Lobbyists scared as Bernie takes over Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Committees are the place to expose or ignore the misdoings of companies & organizations. It is no wonder that corporate lobbyists are scared that Bernie will direct the committee they need.
Last night I read the Politico article titled “‘Not business as usual’: Health lobbyists brace for Bernie Sanders,” which brought a huge smile. Senator Bernie Sanders will lead the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He will determine what to highlight in the healthcare industry. And there is much to highlight to the American people.
The article’s first few paragraphs said it all.
Health care lobbyists representing insurers, drugmakers and a range of powerful industry interests are steeling themselves for a Senate chair immune to their usual charms — Bernie Sanders.
The Vermont independent is set to take over the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next month. Leading the panel gives the Medicare-for-All proponent oversight authority over some of his policy priorities — drug pricing, workers’ rights and income inequality, and student and medical debt.
But Sanders’ well-chronicled antagonism toward lobbyists has some concerned they’ll be unable to blunt criticism of their clients’ profits or corporate executive salaries. They are anxious Sanders might seek to revive policies like importing drugs from Canada and other nations, an idea loathed by drugmakers.
Lobbyists also worry they’ll struggle to get traction on any push to make changes to a drug discount program involving pharmaceutical companies and hospitals or revisit association health plans after a Trump-era rule around them was voided.
“This will not be business as usual for K Street. It will be harder for companies to get in and make a case,” said Michaeleen Crowell, a lobbyist at lobbying and public affairs firm S-3 Group who served as Sanders’ chief of staff for more than five years. “The culture in the office is one where lobbyists are mistrusted, and they’re more likely to discount what they hear directly from companies.”
According to the article, the lobbyists are seeking ways in which they can get around Sanders. They will attempt to game the system corruptly. How will they do that?
Multiple lobbyists representing health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, providers and health systems told POLITICO they’re going to have to “bank shot” their advocacy to get their messages across — lobbying other lawmakers on the committee and getting into the ears of progressive policymakers and left-leaning organizations. …
Lobbyists said another strategy could be working to insert favorable provisions into larger bills, lean on the panel’s House counterpart, the Energy and Commerce Committee, or go to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who is stepping down as HELP Committee chair to head the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Why are lobbyists more scared than normal? Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican pseudo-populist, is the ranking Republican on the committee.
“Does corporate America have to worry? Of course they do,” he added. “Between a populist Republican like Cassidy and a left-wing chairman like Sanders, they’ll have plenty of anti-corporate areas of mutual interest.”
They are also scared that Sander’s subpoena power will parade the healthcare corporate executives in front of the committee. Their evil profiteering on the health of Americans will be made center stage. Because Sanders does not take money from PACs and other entities that commonly purchase politicians, they have no control over him.
The words of a lobbyist, however, show that these guys have no soul. Worse, they think they can promote their soullessness to any senator. From the article,
“It’s hard to find a lobbyist [who] has had much success working with his staff. If the committee wants to be taken seriously on some very important issues, they’re going to need to be more open to talking with stakeholders — even ones [they] don’t like,” he said.
Not all lobbyists are so down on their prospects. Michael Strazzella, the leader of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s federal government relations practice, said he is optimistic about working with Sanders and his staff.
“He can be educated just like every other senator,” Strazzella said. “Influence is a strong word, to be honest, but I do believe that he is open to continuous education and understands the impact of new policies. … I don’t think he’s necessarily set in his ways about everything.”
Understand what the lobbyist is saying. He wants to educate the likes of Bernie Sanders on the art of creating policies that support one stakeholder in healthcare, the corporation. To hell with the people, the healthcare industry continues to harm.
Bernie Sanders cannot do it alone. Americans must first learn the detail of how the corporate structure uses our health solely for profit, our well-being be damned. And then we must mobilize against not only our politicians in Washington but our local and state politicians.
This subject is the topic of discussion today on Politics Done Right on KPFT 90.1 FM Houston today at Noon Central Time (1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific/11 AM Mountain). You can listen to it on air at 90.1 FM in the Houston metropolitan area or at politicsdoneright.tv.
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