Conservative Filibuster Broken on Canadian Drugs

Senators trying to drive down prescription drug costs failed to break a drug industry-backed conservative filibuster when the issue was empowering Medicare to negotiate.

But yesterday, they successfully broke an attempted filibuster on allowing cheaper drugs to be imported from Canada.

Rejoicing may be premature, however.

Newly veto-happy President Bush is still in Big Pharma's pocket, and the filibuster vote was a few votes short of the two-thirds needed to override any veto.

Congresspeople could still drop the provision in order to pass the larger FDA safety bill.

And even if the provision got past Bush's desk, Canada may yet double-cross us. The Winnipeg Sun reports "many [in Canada] say federal Conservatives should move to ban bulk exports to the U.S." Canada's prime minister is a Conservative.

So Big Pharma and its conservative friends on both sides of the border have a lot of cards yet to play in their never-ending quest to deny seniors affordable medications.

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