The House narrowly approved the bill Nov. 22. This is a hard loss, but all your hard work over the last several months made a difference. We came so close to winning--closer than anyone thought possible--but in the end President Bush's lobbying, corporate dollars and arm-twisting in the U.S. House was too much.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the bill is a "partisan proposal that, under the guise of creating the much-need and long-promised prescription drug benefit, would reward the pharmaceutical companies and HMOs that are the political backers of the plan's sponsors."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) called the bill "a Trojan horse" that will eventually lead to the privatization of Medicare.
The bill also prevents the government from negotiating lower drug costs, does nothing to rein in soaring prescription drug prices and opens the doors to a whopping $139 billion in profits for the pharmaceutical industry.