Think Progress reports that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) allowed vaccine industry lobbyists to write their own multi-billion dollar giveaway in the form of a provision steathily inserted into a Defense Appropriations bill "that granted vaccine manufactures
near-total immunity for injuries or deaths (even in cases of 'gross negligence') caused by their drugs during a viral pandemic, such as an outbreak of the avian flu."
How did the industry get such VIP treatment from First and Hastert? Generous campaign contributions always help. Another key component: the vaccine industry was represented by a lobbying team that included three former Frist staffers and Dennis Hastert’s son, Joshua Hastert.
Delicious.
Cue the spin: "But Democrats took money from Junior Hastert, err, Jack Abramoff, too!"
(Crossposted at
AlterNet PEEK.)
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