Frist, Hastert Aid Vaccine Companies
Roll Call
By John Stanton, Roll Call Staff
In a late-night move that could be worth billions of dollars to a small group of major drug manufacturers, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) inserted language into the fiscal year 2006 Defense Department spending conference report.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, the leaders agreed — after House and Senate negotiators had already signed the report and announced its details to the public — to insert controversial language that protects vaccine manufacturers from product liability claims in the event of a viral pandemic, such as one caused by avian flu.
Observers familiar with the procedural history of conference reports said that they were unaware of any precedent for inserting language after conferees had signed off on the report. A review of several Congressional Research Service guides to conference proceedings make no reference to any prior example.
If the law is applied as Frist and other supporters intend, it will represent enormous financial relief for a small group of largely foreign-owned pharmaceutical companies that have worked to promote vaccine liability protection. The companies include the Dutch vaccine manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, and the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Novartis.
These companies have wielded substantial influence in Washington, D.C. Campaign finance disclosures show that the companies at the center of Congressional bird flu efforts have significant Washington-based operations, including well-funded corporate political action committees and a host of top lobbyists on retainer.
During an early-morning meeting of the House Rules Committee on the bill, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), a vocal critic of the vaccine industry, complained bitterly that he had been assured the language would not be included in the bill. “This kind of thing should not be done at 11 at night,” he said.
House Appropriations Committee ranking member David Obey (D-Wisc.) accused the GOP of tricking conferees, saying on the House floor that he had been assured the liability provision would not make it into the defense bill.
Republicans strongly denied that they misled negotiators and insist that the unusual arrangement to include the language was struck only because the provisions had been inadvertently left out.
“There appears to have been some administrative snafu ... that led to much confusion,” a Senate Republican aide familiar with the situation said, adding that it took “several hours’ work to clear up that the avian package ... were indeed physically included along the lines understood by the Leader and the Speaker.”
