30. 30 Dem Senators voted against drug reimportation

[cali]

That says a lot. That's right, the majority of the Dem caucus in the Senate voted for big pharma. They voted to fuck us. And that includes people like John Kerry and Kristin Gillibrand.

Fuckwads.

[napi21]

1. I'd love to hear their reasons. I honestly don't believe they voted against it

just to support Big Pharma or to screw us. Many times, on the surface, things sound great, but then you listen to the whole thing and find out it's not really what you thought.

[Ken Burch]

2. Was Mark Begich, our states new Dem senator, one of them?

The guy's wicked fixated on showing he's "moderate" and "independent", so I wouldn't put it past him.

[cali]

5. Ken, Begich voted for it.

[Ken Burch]

6. Thank God.

Don't know if we'll get anything else good out of him, but at least we got that.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. I'm going to guess Bayh was in on that.

[andym]

4. probably some kind of deal was struck

People like Kerry voted against....
What kind of deal is the question? What did they get in return? (not talking about $$$ from Pharma, many anti Pharma Senators voted against)

[No Passaran]

7. Shameful

In the pockets of big corporations. When will it end?

[charlie]

8. Republicans blew the cover off them

18 grinning Repubs voted for it, so Dems who thought they could vote yea on a failing amendment had to vote no.

According to this HuffPo article, Sen Whitehouse said the nay votes were in exchange for closing the donut hole:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/15/doughnuts-for-dorgan-drug_n_393527.html

"The colloquy yesterday, between Leader (Harry) Reid and Chairman (Max) Baucus and Chairman (Chris) Dodd, did not happen in a vacuum," said Whitehouse, carefully choosing his words. A colloquy is a public conversation on the Senate floor that often is used to ratify a deal struck in private.

What was the subject of the colloquy?

"Closing the doughnut hole," said Whitehouse. A senate Democratic aide confirmed that the doughnut-hole move was largely made in exchange for votes to kill Dorgan's amendment. "That was more or less the arrangement," he said. (The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Dorgan was asked if he was aware of the deal. "You'll have to ask others that," he said.

[burning rain]

9. I'm sure karynnj will have something to say about this.

.