| All told, 23 GOP supported Dorgan:
Alexander (R-TN)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Johanns (R-NE)
LeMieux (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Risch (R-ID)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
And 31 Dems voted against
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Burris (D-IL)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kirk (D-MA)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Schumer (D-NY)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Warner (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Now we know that Obama sold his soul to Pharma, and presumably the conditions included no relaxation of importation restrictions in the bill.
But - surely even the combined might of Pharma and the WH wasn't able to buy 31 votes?
Plus - catch and release could have let 8 of those Dems escape from the Dark Side and still have kept the amendment passing.
Ergo - a good deal more than 8 were voting against importation for their reasons.
Now, it occurred to me (as no doubt it occurred to you) that this is not the first time the Senate has voted on prescription drug importation.
The last time I can trace (probably not the very latest) is the passage vote on S 812 (107th) on July 31 2002 (happy days...) which passed 78-21.
Only one Dem in the 21 - Breaux.
The Dems voting in favor were 50:
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carnahan (D-MO)
Carper (D-DE)
Cleland (D-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Edwards (D-NC)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hollings (D-SC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Miller (D-GA)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Torricelli (D-NJ)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wyden (D-OR)
Of the Dem senators still in office, the following 18 voted for S 812 but against the Dorgan Amendment:
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Cantwell
Carper
Dodd
Durbin
Inouye
Kerry
Landrieu
Levin
Lieberman
Mikulski
Murray
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Schumer
Of course, there's no ipso facto about politics: the mere fact that importation was such a bipartisan winner in 2002 and such a Dem no-no in 2009 proves nothing. That was then, this is now.
But the size of Dem opposition - and of vote-switching from 2002 - just give one pause to wonder how the pieces fit together.
I'll be coming back to this.
UPDATE
Apparently, Whitehouse has suggested that the Dems who voted against Dorgan (or some of them) had been bought off by a deal to close the Medicare D donut hole.
Quite how true this is, what the forecast cost of closing the hole might be, etc, etc, I've no idea. But, as a reason for such a mass Dem defection, it does at least rise to the level of plausibility.
UPDATE 2
Prompted by the developing saga of the FDA letter to look again at Senate roll calls on importation, I see that, as I suspected, there's a much more recent one than 2002: in 2007, there was cloture on an importation amendment (also from Dorgan) to S 1082 (110th).
Cloture passed 63-28 - a little slippage from 2002, but still pretty impressive. I'll spreadsheet the voting pattern from all three votes when I've a moment. |
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