Monday, April 02, 2007

Ugly, ugly, ugly - "The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the Medicare bill"




"I've been in politics for 22 years, and it was the ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years."

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

When the prescription drug bill finally passed shortly before dawn, in the longest roll call in the history of the House of Representatives, much of the credit went to former Congressman Billy Tauzin, R-La., who steered it through the house.


"It's just a messy process," Tauzin says. "I mean, the old adage about if you like sausage or laws, you should not watch either one of them being made is true. It's a messy process."


Tauzin says that the voting machines were open for three hours "because the vote wasn't finished."


As for arms being twisted? "People were being talked to," he says.


And of Walter Jones' comment that it was the "ugliest night" he had "ever seen in politics in 22 years?"


"Well, he's a young member," counters Tauzin with a laugh. "Had he been around for 25 years, he'd have seen some uglier nights."

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