60 Minutes: Big Pharma wrote the Medicare prescription drug bill
“I’ve been in politics for 22 years and it was the ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years,” says Jones of efforts by Republican Congressional leaders to persuade defecting Republicans to vote for one of the most expensive bills ever before the House. “The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill,” says Jones, who, with Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), was among those defectors.
When they tallied votes, there were not enough to pass it, so the vote was kept open for longer than normal. “They’re supposed to have 15 minutes to leave the voting machines open and it was open for almost three hours,” says Burton.
“The votes were there to defeat the bill for two hours and 45 minutes and
we had leaders going around … trying to twist [defecting Republicans'] arms to get them to change their votes,” says Burton.
“It was horrible,” Jones tells [Steve] Kroft. “We had a good friend from Michigan, Nick Smith (formerly R-Mich.) and they threatened to work against his son who wanted to run for his seat when he retired,” recalls Jones. “I saw… a member of the House, a lady, crying when they came around her, trying to get her to change her vote.”
The bill passed, extending limited prescription drug coverage under Medicare to 41 million Americans.
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The GOP has a knack for forgetting their own bullshit.
