Senator Dorgan makes a very serious accusation against the White House

[mcablue]

As you may already know, the FDA recently issued a letter warning against drug reimportation, because drugs from abroad are allegedly unsafe.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who attempted to pass a drug-reimportation measure, just said.

Last week, he said he heard rumors that the FDA was going to send a letter objecting to drug importation on safety grounds, which he has said is a bogus reason. He said he called FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who said she knew nothing about such a letter.

He said his timeline shows that a letter, signed by Hamburg questioning the safety of drug imports, was sent 24 hours later to a few senators who opposed importation. That piece of paper became a rallying cry for other senators who voted down Dorgan's amendment.

"I think the letter was prompted, probably drafted somewhere else," like "the White House" Dorgan said.

The White House has not responded to repeated calls and emails. The FDA did not immediately comment.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/17/csi-washington-who-killed-drug-imports/

In other words, the White House was responsible for this letter, in Dorgan's view. Why was there a rumor regarding a letter of which the FDA supervisor had no knowledge at that particular time? Why didn't the White House respond to requests for comments?

I believe an investigation is in order. Playing politics with an issue of this nature (or any other consumer-related issue) is a big offense.

Here are links to rticles discussing the issue at the moment:

http://www.openleft.com/diary/16550/did-the-white-house-political-staff-unethically-pressuremanipulate-the-fda

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/12/17/dorgan-exploring-mystery-of-who-killed-his-reimportation-legislation/

[polichick]

1. They were protecting their deal with big pharma - this really is disgusting. nt

[movonne]

14. +3

[roguevalley]

30. I hope they go to prison. NOW!!!!!

[ima_sinnic]

2. at this point, I wouldn't put anything past the WH---

NOTHING

including protecting his pharmaceutical buddies' bloated profits by making us captive consumers. His own bottom line is swelling by the minute.

[lapfog_1]

3. Shades of W.

Same kind of strong arm tactics.

Same "We didn't do that, it was written in the White House" type of response.

Every day and in every way, I am getting more and more disgusted by the Obama White House.

[AndyA]

4. THIS is why Nancy Pelosi should have served up impeachment as the main course on the table!

Runaway and abusive Presidential powers. Overreaching their rightful authority and they know they can get away with it.

Had George W. Bush been investigated and impeached as Job One in 2007, things would likely be very different right now. As it is, everyone knows that can just do whatever they damn well want to, and no one will do anything about it.

[depakid]

7. +1

[FiveGoodMen]

8. Hear, hear!

[IndianaGreen]

18. We should have impeached Bush and Cheney

and cleaned house!

[OHdem10]

5. Pawlenty , possible GOP Pres.Candidate is promising the Re-Importation

of Drugs if he becomes President. A direct hit against Obama

[IndianaGreen]

19. Of course, he won't do it, but Obama is the one that didn't do it

[PBS Poll-435]

6. lol

Nice fix.

[glitch]

9. If true it certainly speaks to the separation of powers meme that pops up frequently here

in justification for Obama not using the bully pulpit on healthcare (or climate change, or mountaintop removal or whatever else).

[flyarm]

10. This is deplorable ..buy does not surprise me..sorry to say.

[slipslidingaway]

11. knr for Dorgan, they sold us out on reimportation and Medicare drug negotiation. n/t

[rwheeler31]

12. No one seems to know anything.

Lets just speculate and continue to bash. What a bunch of crap.

[Kdillard]

16. Exactly but not surprised that this is being treated as if it is something here

On DU.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. We know what Dorgan said

And he's a United States Senator. And a Democrat. And of course, he's right.

[slipslidingaway]

29. We do know that Obama has not pushed for promises made in his...

HC plan and that he announced a deal with Pharma that does not come close to the savings outlined in his plan.

[uponit7771]

37. No you don't...

[slipslidingaway]

43. Links to Obama pushing for his campaign promises on the drug issue???

the only thing I have seen from the WH is the announcement of the 80 billion dollar deal, I have not seen them push for the promises detailed in the Obama/Biden HC Plan.

Maybe you can point to links where the WH has fought for these promises.

:shrug:

Obama announces drug companies deal
Pharmaceutical industry pledges $80 billion to help reduce cost of drugs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31485134/ns/politics-white_house/

"...The industry sealed a weekend deal with the White House and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, to spend $80 billion over the next decade defraying the cost of drugs for seniors and paying a portion of the cost of Obama's legislation. The president, in an appearance Monday at the White House, said the agreement was "a significant breakthrough on the road to health care reform, one that will make a difference in the lives of many older Americans."


Could we save another 220 billion in addition to the 80 billion using VA prices...

BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN’S PLAN TO LOWER HEALTH CARE COSTS
AND ENSURE AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTH COVERAGE FOR ALL

page 5
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf


"...Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices. The 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug
Improvement and Modernization Act bans the government from negotiating down the prices of
prescription drugs, even though the Department of Veterans Affairs’ negotiation of prescription drug
prices with drug companies has garnered significant savings for taxpayers.32 Barack Obama and Joe
Biden will repeal the ban on direct negotiation with drug companies and use the resulting savings, which
could be as high as $30 billion,33 to further invest in improving health care coverage and quality..."

[rockymountaindem]

13. See? Obama can play hardball.

But for the Pharma All-Stars.

[Laelth]

15. I wouldn't doubt it.

I believe the Administration has controlled every aspect of the "health insurance reform" legislation from top to bottom, and I wouldn't put it past the Administration to use every tool at its disposal (including the FDA) to get whet it wants. And it wanted to kill Dorgan's amendment to preserve the Administration's deal with big Pharma.

:dem:

-Laelth

[IndianaGreen]

17. An investigation is in order, and we must demand the WH releases all documents

pertaining to the PhRMA deal. It was Obama who promised transparency during the campaign. Let's hold him to it!

[David Zephyr]

21. This really set me off. It is such insidious betrayal.

And they tried to hide it.

I no longer trust Obama. I don't. He lied.

[David Zephyr]

20. Huffington Post already reported that the White House worked with Carper to kill Dorgan's amendment.

They worked to kill the amendment for something Obama pledged to the voters over and over.

That's sick.

That's fucking sick.

[flpoljunkie]

23. What's disturbing about the $80B deal with the WH is that represents only about 2% of their profits!

Not exactly a sacrifice for PhRMA, is it.

[Canuckistanian]

24. Is this a possible fraud?

Did Margaret Hamburg really sign that letter?

In fact, if someone else forged her signature or otherwise deceived her into signing that letter, it could be a charge of "uttering a false document", which is MUCH more serious than just fraud.

[bvar22]

25. It was also the "White House"...

..that pulled the Kucinich Amendment (allowed states to start their own Single Payer System) from the House Bill AFTER it had passed in committee.

[chill_wind]

31. Again, what you would call major Hardball

and people here rationalizing for the power brokers as victims, day in and day out. Unreal.

[uponit7771]

39. Link and quote...

[Cass]

26. Whoa. This is a serious accusation and needs to be investigated.

I hope it's not true. This is real slimy, Karl Rove slimy.

[ruggerson]

27. There are some drugs availabe in Europe that are not avalable lhere

It would be a serious mistake to stop letting people fill their prescriptions overseas.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[chill_wind]

32. Dorgan is going to get toasted crisp for this. He's got to know that.

And I'm sure he thought about it.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

33. Which is why this accusation is so believeable

Dorgan has everything to lose by saying this, including his career in the senate.

[chill_wind]

35. That's what I mean. I can't see an upside in this

for a Democratic U.S. Senator.

[Vidar]

34. K&R.

[quiet.american]

36. Transcript of WH answer during blogger's conference call:

Blogger Susie Madrak: I used to work for an FDA controlling firm and I thought that whole manuever with the importing the pharmaceutical drugs was shameless. I mean, everybody knows that, you know, anybody in the industry knows that the FDA inspects those facilities in other countries, but in fact a lot of the pharmaceutical companies that are bringing those drugs into the country from those exact same plants... and considering that President Obama campaigned on this, you know, I just would like to hear some feedback on that.

WH (my note: didn't get the name of the person speaking): On your second point, (the above was Madrak's second question) one of the good things that happened this week is that the Labor HHS bill was among the bills that was finally approved by the Senate. And in that bill was a proposal that President Obama put forth as soon as he got here, which is to get the FDA started on the kind of work it needs to do to have the infrastructure and systems to do importation of drugs safely. The President is committed to that, he wants to get it done because he wants to get the savings for the American people.

Now, that said, you know, this has been an issue that has been around for years; there are a lot of legitimate concerns about safety. And, we've gotta get to the bottom of that. But that's why the President's not waiting around, he's got the money in the budget for the FDA to start working on how to just get the system up and running to do this kind of thing safely.

Madrak: What's the timeline on that.

WH: I don't know, but we got the money this week.

Madrak: Okay.

WH: We asked Congress for it, and we got it this week.

[uponit7771]

38. *****THIS POST KILLS THE THREAD*****

[mcablue]

40. Yup. You posted a title in all capitals and multiple asterisks. That must mean the thread is "dead"

A White House person says the WH wants to reimport drugs in the future (without saying why they've been reportedly against reimportation NOW, and without saying when they will take the alleged steps cited here), and you assume this unidentified dude or gal is telling the truth and you do not ask yourself why did they opposed Dorgan's amendment.

Let's be serious.

[Egnever]

41. Yes lets be serious

if the post is true and congress just aproved the money for the FDA then your conspiracy theory crap and dorgans is complete hogwash.

[Egnever]

42. And on further examination that bill was passed

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/12/senate_clears_447b_spending_me.html

and it includes lots of good stuff so you and dorgan are gonna have to find another conspiracy theory to try to bash the president with.

[slipslidingaway]

46. No, not necessarily ***** nt

[quiet.american]

44. Just adding a link to the conference call:

WH/Bloggers Conference Call
http://crooksandliars.com/node/33576

[freddie mertz]

45. If this is true, we are venturing into criminal terrain.

How much worse can this get?

[quiet.american]

47. It appears Dorgan needs to get out more. Not only were imports not killed, they are now funded.

My earlier post on the transcript of the call the WH held with bloggers this week contains the news that Obama, immediately upon taking office, requested funding from Congress for the FDA to build out their infrastructure to support the importation of drugs. The Senate approved the bill this week and the funding is now in place.

The reality is the exact opposite of the Wall Street Journal's screaming headline: Who Killed Import Drugs.