House Dems Seek “Fairer Pricing” For Prescription Drugs Within Health Reform

By Learned Foote - Talk Radio News Service

A group of Democratic Congressmen introduced proposals on Thursday known as the CARE (Cut Americans’ Rx Expenses) Package. This package would seek to reduce the costs of prescription drugs, and thereby create savings worth $190 billion dollars that could be applied to health care reform.

The package has three amendments which the Congressmen will seek to insert into the legislation. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said that Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) agreed to support these proposals during mark-up.

Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said that pharmaceutical companies “create life-extending, pain-relieving, life-saving drugs,” but also “charge very high prices and have an excessive control over the marketplace.”

Rep. Harman said that the first proposal seeks to reverse a 2003 law that passed 220-215, which prohibits the Health and Human Services Secretary from bargaining for lower prices for pharmaceuticals for Medicare D patients. She said the law represents a “poignant example of Congress’ failure to take meaningful action to rein in drug costs.”

According to Rep. Castor, the bill's second amendment allows a potential public option to “negotiate prices” and to establish a formulary. A prepared press release said that such a formulary would mean that “families who choose the public option are guaranteed the lowest cost for prescriptions.”

Rep. Betty Sutton said that the final provision “will require...drug manufacturers to pay a supplemental rebate when name-brand drugs exceed the current rate of inflation.” She said the companies “won’t have to pay these rebates if they decide not to jack up their drug prices above the rate of inflation.” She added that this proposal will incentivize drug companies to “show reasonable restraint, thereby making prescription drug prices more affordable.”

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fl.) noted that Americans pay higher prices for drugs than do consumers in other countries. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) said that the government has “terrific bargaining power.” He wondered “why shouldn’t the government in dealing with the pharmaceutical industry be able to go into the marketplace and use that bargaining power on behalf of seniors, on behalf of working families across the country?”

The members of Congress proposing this legislation include Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

Great Plains GOP Senators Say No To Cap And Trade

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Three GOP senators from Great Plains states criticized the cap-and-trade bill that recently passed in the House of Representatives, and is currently being reviewed in the Senate.

According to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Ky.), the bill is a "wet dog that is not welcome in the farmhouse or the ranch." Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) firmly said that "this bill is not going to work in the Senate," and claimed that it lacks "even a 5% chance of being successful."

Sen. Johanns, formerly the Secretary of Agriculture under President George W. Bush, said that the legislation would hurt the economy, especially in agricultural communities. "The average farmer will never buy into the idea that maybe, just maybe, if they pay higher production costs and go through this regimen that is going to be established, that they might do better," he said.

The Senators dismissed testimony given by the United States Department of Agriculture to the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. "The USDA analysis...has holes enough to drive a grain truck through," said Sen. Roberts. He said it was based on assumptions of the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], which he argued is "driven by their agenda. I don't think it is driven by accurate assessment...as to the effect on farmers and ranchers in rural, small-town America."

Sen. Johanns said he has worked with the economists of the USDA in the past, and that they produce "excellent work." He maintained, however, that this analysis is "tragically incomplete" and it is "remarkable how deficient it is in analysis."

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) questioned how effectively the legislation could protect the environment, arguing that other carbons will not act to cut carbon emissions, thus stripping the U.S. of competitive advantage in the marketplace. He said that the "costs are real and the savings are theoretical."

The GOP Senators suggested that another piece of legislation could gain bipartisan support. "We ought to be serious abut reducing CO2 emissions," said Thune. He emphasized "incentives for rural renewable energy production," which he said would avoid a "crushing economic burden on American business."

Minority Leaders In House And Senate Fight Obama’s Health Care Agenda

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

The minority leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives—Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and John Boehner (R-Ohio) respectively—sought to preemptively counter an address set to be delivered by President Obama on health care reform Wednesday evening.

During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Boehner warned that Obama will “repeat some of the myths that he’s been repeating over the last several months.” He said that Obama will claim that the reform proposal will reduce costs, keep the deficit from rising, and allow Americans to keep their current health care plan.

The House Majority Leader cited a report recently released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to combat these arguments. He said that the plan will spend 1.6 trillion dollars in costs, increase the deficit by $239 billion, and give employers the incentive to move millions of Americans from private to public coverage.

Senator McConnell criticized a meeting that occurred yesterday between President Obama and CBO Director Doug Elmendorf. He said that the CBO should remain free of political pressures, and likened the meeting to “the owner of the team asking the umpires to come up to the owner’s box.”

The Republican leaders rejected the idea that their opposition is inspired by political attacks on President Obama. “This is not about the President,” said McConnell. “This is about the issue, and taking the time to get it right. He said that the President criticizes “unnamed” opponents of health care reform, adding“I can’t find a single member who is not for trying to improve America’s health care system."

McConnell said that health care reform should take place on a “large bipartisan basis,” and mentioned some plans to cut costs, including preventing frivolous malpractice suits and encouraging Americans to lead healthier lives. He said that the high numbers of uninsured Americans could be reduced by equalizing tax treatment of individuals and corporations, since only companies receive deductibles by providing health insurance.

Boehner stated that the President should “scrap” the plan proffered by the House Democrats, and that negotiations should begin anew and include both parties.

Steele Condemns Democrats' Approach To Health Care Reform

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele condemned proposals for health care reform advanced by the Democratic Party and criticized the legislative process that he says has excluded the GOP in an address at the National Press Club on Monday.

Steele called President Obama a “good man who cares deeply about this country, but he is determined...to transform it into something none of us would recognize.”

Steele argued that the primary affliction of the health care system in the U.S. is rising costs, noting that the U.S. spends over 15% of its GDP on health care, whereas comparable countries spend about 10% of their GDP with similar outcomes. He said that “our uninsured are a symptom of that cost problem.”

Steele claimed that both Republicans and Democrats would like to see the costs associated with private health care significantly reduced, but argued that "the “Democrats’ plan to save money will cost us more money,” and that their “plan to reduce health care costs will cost us trillions more in tax dollars.” He cited a report released by the Congressional Budget Office last Friday as evidence, and also said that this report did not account for the administrative costs associated with the legislation, which he said would be even more expensive.

Steele suggested some solutions to curb these rising costs. These suggestions included posting the prices and outcomes of various procedures online, simplifying health insurance contracts to promote competition, protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuits, enacting penalties against those who unethically profit from the health care system, encouraging small businesses to form health care plans and coops, cutting Washington bureaucrats out of the equation, allowing people to retain health insurance as they move from job to job, and enabling Americans to purchase health insurance from various states, regardless of their home state.

Steele also said that “much about our health care system is in very good shape,” and said that the Democratic proposals could “lead to a 119 million Americans being dumped out of their private coverage into a cheaper, government-run health care program.”

He said that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House respectively, “aren’t really doctors, they’re just trying to play one on Capitol Hill by experimenting with health care and insisting on a big government takeover.”

Steele criticized the legislative process, which he says is occurring too quickly for Congress to read the legislation at hand, saying that the Democrats are “determined to shove this bill through without permitting any meaningful scrutiny,” and are leaving Republican leadership out of the discussion. “The Democrats have no intention to have a bipartisan bill,” he added.

Legal Experts Debate Congressional Authority Over Executive Power

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Legal experts, former politicians, and a member of the Obama administration discussed the balance of powers in the U.S. government in a panel hosted by the Constitution Project and the Project on Government Oversight.

The conversation focused on the authority of Congress to obtain information from the executive branch in order to maintain oversight, an authority that some panelists argue has been compromised by the Bush and Obama administrations.

“Congress has been dealt a pretty good hand by the Founding Fathers,” said Morton Rosenberg, a legal expert on the separation of powers in government. “But of late, it’s been playing its cards very badly.” Rosenberg said he was “concerned about the state of Congress’ ability to engage in effective oversight...to ensure that its will is carried out.”

Former Congressman Mickey Edwards, a Republican from Oklahoma, emphasized that the American government puts power in the “hands of the people directly through their elected representatives.” He said that Congress has an “obligation” to exert authority over declarations of war, spending priorities, tax policy, and confirmations to the Supreme Court.

“If the Congress does not do everything in its power to get the information it needs to act on behalf of the American people, it has abdicated its responsibility, and it has been guilty in my view of malfeasance.”

Rosenberg described the mechanisms by which Congress exercises authority over the executive branch, including the threat of subpoena. He said that over the past decade, the efficacy of these mechanisms has declined, citing a case where the House of Representatives voted to hold two aides to George W. Bush, Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in contempt.

Rosenberg also criticized the Obama administration, which he said has “not evidenced any substantial change in the executive’s attitude toward Congressional access to information.” He mentioned that Obama has upheld the “controversial Bush II practice of pin-pointing provisions of law that he was signing into law as being unconstitutional or suspect, and he would decide whether or not...to obey them.”

Ron Weich, the Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Obama administration, said that the current executive branch agrees that Congressional oversight is important, and emphasized that President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, along with many other members of the Obama administration, have served in Congress.

Nonetheless, he argued that the Constitution establishes “a healthy push-and-pull among the branches.”

Regarding the release of information to Congress, Weich said that there are “limits on what we [the executive branch] can provide, and these are embodied in long-standing principles.”