JFC the Democrats are bad. I wonder if any of these 13 senators received campaign contributions from Big Pharma?
WAFJ.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... /96506340/WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday blasted 13 Senate Democrats for lacking the “guts” to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry after they voted against a measure he pushed to help drive down drug costs by importing them from Canada.
The Vermont Independent and former Democratic presidential candidate said during a Thursday interview he plans to personally speak with the senators who opposed the measure — which failed 52-46 on Wednesday — and try to turn them around. A dozen Republicans voted in favor.
“The Democratic Party has got to make it very clear that they are prepared to stand up to powerful special interests like the pharmaceutical industry and like Wall Street, and they’re not going to win elections and they’re not going to be doing the right thing for the American people unless they have the guts to do that,” said Sanders, the leader of outreach efforts for Senate Democrats. “That 13 Democrats did not is disappointing. I absolutely hope that in the coming weeks and months you’re going to see many of them develop the courage to stand up to Pharma.”
The measure by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sanders would have allowed pharmaceutical distributors and pharmacists to import low-cost medicine from Canada and other countries. Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington, Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia all voted against it.
Several senators said they voted for other measures to drive down drug costs and they cited safety concerns as the reason for their opposition to the Klobuchar-Sanders measure.
“The Food and Drug Administration has testified before the Senate that they are unable to certify that the mass, wholesale importation of medications from other countries, even Canada, would be safe, authentic or efficacious,” Menendez said. “Allowing unknown drugs to be imported by uncertified and unverifiedInternet pharmacies undermines that trust and puts the well-being of patients at serious risk.”





