BBE/IE: Cory Booker & Senate Republicans

[BlameThe1st]

Cory Booker Joins Senate Republicans to Kill Measure to Import Cheaper Medicine From Canada

You'd think that with the GOP set to strike down government-mandated healthcare, that they'd push the free market as a viable alternative; and yet they just struck down a bill that would allow Americans to purchase cheaper medicine from other countries:

The Senate voted down the amendment 52-46, with two senators not voting. Unusually, the vote was not purely along party lines: 13 Republicans joined Sanders and a majority of Democrats in supporting the amendment, while 13 Democrats and a majority of Republicans opposed it.

One of those Democrats was New Jersey's Cory Booker, who is considered a rising star in the party and a possible 2020 presidential contender.

In a statement to the media after the vote, Booker's office said he supports the importation of prescription drugs but that "any plan to allow the importation of prescription medications should also include consumer protections that ensure foreign drugs meet American safety standards. I opposed an amendment put forward last night that didn't meet this test."

This argument is the same one offered by the pharmaceutical industry. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which lobbies against importation, maintains that it opposes importation because "foreign governments will not ensure that prescription drugs entering the U.S. from abroad are safe and effective."

The safety excuse has long been a refuge for policymakers who don't want to assist Americans struggling with prescription drug costs. Bills to legalize importation passed in 2000 and 2007, but expired after the Clinton and Bush administrations refused to certify that it would be safe. The Obama administration also cited safety concerns when opposing an importation measure in the Affordable Care Act.

And as for the man who helped strike down the bill, Cory Booker (a Democrat), to no one's surprise, he's bought and paid for by big pharmaceutical companies:

Booker and some of his Democratic colleagues who opposed the Sanders amendment are longtime friends of the drug industry. As MapLight data shows, Booker has received more pharmaceutical manufacturing cash over the past six years than any other Democratic senator: $267,338. In addition, significant numbers of pharmaceutical and biotech firms reside in Booker's home state of New Jersey. Other Democrats receiving six-figure donations from the industry, like Casey, Patty Murray, and Michael Bennet, opposed the amendment.

Granted, the guy is a Democrat, so unlike the Senate Republicans, he doesn't pretend to care about the free market. But he is supposed to pretend to care about healthcare, and thus preventing customers from access to affordable medicine is the exact opposite.

So a pox on both the houses of the Democrats and Republicans for voting this bill down. They have the inevitable deaths of Americans on their hands.

[Travis Retriever]

You'd think that with the GOP set to strike down government-mandated healthcare,

Let me stop you right there.  They're not against it.  Hell, it was Bush who expanded Medicaid/Medicare, and Romney who first pulled the healthcare mandate crap when he was governor.  No, they only are against it when it's from The Other Team.  They LOVE protectionism.  Tariffs, trade restrictions, etc.  Always have.