Frist let drug firms write their own legislation

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's dreams of the Oval Office grow ever more unlikely.

Via Think Progress, Dr. Fristus' hometown newspaper reports that legislation protecting vaccine makers from lawsuits related to their drugs was essentially drafted by the firms themselves.

The legislation was “worth billions of dollars” to a small group of drug makers.

The provision was inserted in the dead of the night, after House and Senate conferees had agreed the provision would not be included in the bill. According to Roll Call, the brazen move was completely unprecedented.

A new report from Public Citizen reveals that vaccine-industry lobbyists essentially wrote the provision themselves. This morning’s Tennessean reports:

Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group.

E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers show the organization met privately with Frist’s staff and the White House about measures that would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines.

The final language of the provision was exactly what the vaccine manufactures requested in thier emails and meetings.

Can Frist do anything right?

Of course, he can't. He was Bush's hand-picked successor to Trent Lott, remember? Just like every other official hand-picked by Bush, Frist is utterly incompetent and unable to perform the basic functions of his assigned job.