Coburn gets best of Reid on ‘omnibus’ package
The Bear on Jul 30 2008 at 8:29 am | Filed under: Politics
Sen. Tom Coburn is used to being a lonely “no” vote on overwhelming Senate votes, but on Monday afternoon, his GOP colleagues came to his defense.
Coburn (R-Okla.) prevailed in blocking a massive package of generally non-controversial bills that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought to the floor, angering Democrats and some Republicans while raising Coburn’s status as a cult hero to fiscal conservatives. The vote was 52-40 on a procedural motion that required 60 votes.
The package of about three dozen bills includes research money for paralysis victims, a civil rights bill named after Emmitt Till and a crackdown on child pornography. Yet the package also has dozens of other measures that would authorize billions in programs for the environment, foreign relations and health care.
Coburn is notorious in the Senate for blocking all manner of routine bills that he says include wasteful spending, and has earned the nickname “Dr. No” for his holds on Senate bills.
Republicans stuck together in blocking this bill not because they oppose all of the programs, but because they have decided to block everything small and large this week until they get votes on stalled energy legislation.
The vote sent Reid into one of his trademark tirades on the Senate floor…
2 Responses to “Coburn gets best of Reid on ‘omnibus’ package”
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This is exactly the right thing to do. Democrats better ‘wake up’ as the American people
want action not rhetoric. We want domestic supply increased and dependency ended.
http://www.uniteforlife.org/harryreid.pdf
Mothers Tell Harry Reid to Read Up On FDA Antidepressant
Warnings
by Amy Philo, amy@uniteforlife.org, 214-705-0169, 817-793-8028
The Food and Drug Administration has issued 25 warnings concerning the use of
antidepressants ranging from the increased risk of suicide to the danger of
premature births, birth defects, and giving birth to babies with respiratory
problems. Existing studies show a doubled rate of suicide, spontaneous abortion,
and stillbirth, a five times higher rate of preterm birth, six times higher rate of
persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), and similar increases in heart
defects and other life-threatening complications. Based on MedWatch data, over
the past four years an estimated 2,900 babies died via spontaneous abortion
caused by SSRI exposure during pregnancy, 4,360 were born with birth defects,
3,000 were born prematurely, and 4,160 developed heart disease. MedWatch
reports also include sudden infant death as a consequence of antidepressant
exposure via breast milk alone.
On July 28, the U.S. Senate convened for a showdown on the so-called “Coburn
Omnibus,” considering Majority Leader Harry Reid’s motion to invoke cloture on
the 398-page bill. The vote would set a precedent demonstrating the relative
importance of the Constitution over special interest groups’ priorities. Senator
Reid (D-NV) urged Republicans to vote against deliberating on the package,
which contains 35 bills and at least $10 billion in potential taxpayer expenditures.
Reid had sought to hotline the majority of the bills in the package and therefore
pass them with no debate or formal vote, which Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
objected to. As reported by the New York Times, Reid stated, “Not a single one
of the 35 bills in this package are partisan or controversial,” He went on to remark
that anyone voting “no” would have to explain to his or her constituents. “These
bills have been passed by the House of Representatives and their respective
Senate committees with overwhelming support from Democrats and
Republicans.”
Section D of the omnibus bill is The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act,
which has never even been discussed in a Senate committee, much less
approved by the majority of Senator Kennedy’s HELP committee, where it has
stalled since February.
There has been ongoing public outcry regarding new efforts by drug makers to
expand their market for antidepressants and other top-selling psychotropic
medications by pushing to enact laws requiring screening for mental illness on all
sectors of the population from newborns to school children, on up to the military
and elderly. But this outrage has been especially vigorous with regard to the hotly
contested Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act, which would increase the
number of pregnant and new mothers taking these drugs.
Critics of the bill fear what repercussions there would be for everyday Americans
if the bill were ever to pass, and many expressed vehement objections to Reid’s
statement that not one of the bills was controversial. Perhaps Senator Reid can
explain to the American people why he supported a bill that would increase
cases of spontaneous abortions and fatal birth defects while causing more
mothers to kill themselves or their children.
Neglecting to mention The MOTHERS Act during his speeches Monday, Reid
emphasized the need to pass some of the most sympathetic-sounding bills in the
package, such as paralysis and pornography legislation. Yet in a comment given
to the Washington Post, Reid accused the Senators who had shot down the
cloture motion of voting against mothers suffering from postpartum depression.
Reid’s seemingly intentional failure to bring up The MOTHERS Act during the
debate and his false statements that the bills in the package are all non-
controversial and that they have all passed the appropriate Senate committees
should arouse much suspicion.
On the floor, MOTHERS Act cosponsor Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) alluded to the
bill but incorrectly described its background, stating that Melanie Stokes had
killed herself just a few days after giving birth. Durbin also said, “This bill really
tries to help women with postpartum depression.” In fact, Melanie Stokes took
her life 3 ½ months after her daughter Sommer was born, but only after she was
given four successive cocktails of antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and antipsychotic
drugs as well as electroshock.
Melanie Stokes is not alone. The FDA issued the first-ever black box warning for
suicide on antidepressant drugs in September, 2004. The warning stated that
antidepressants double the risk of suicide according to clinical trial data. Since
2002 there has been a 6,300% increase on antidepressant warnings from drug
agencies around the globe. Mathy Milling Downing, whose 12-year-old daughter
Candace hanged herself from the valance of her bed in 2004 after being placed
on Zoloft for test anxiety, told the FDA at their hearing immediately preceding the
issuance of the suicide warning, “The blood of our children is on your hands.”
Downing objected to Reid’s recent tactics, stating, “It’s deplorable that Congress
continues to support the drug companies over constituents. In no way should
Congress be involved in medical decisions. That should be between the doctor
and the patient.”
Numerous media stories have surfaced about objections to The MOTHERS Act
and controversy surrounding it. The bill’s lead sponsor Senator Robert
Menendez (D-NJ), who accepted more than $300,000 from pharmaceutical
donors during the last election cycle, even went so far as to tell a reporter from
the New Jersey Record that he considers the opposition “wrong-minded.”
At least for now, the “Coburn Omnibus” seems less of a threat, since Dr.
Coburn’s hold could not be overcome by Senate Democrats. They fell eight votes
short of the required 60 to break the filibuster. But victims and survivors are left
wondering if Senators Reid, Durbin, and Menendez intentionally disregard
matters of life and death for everyday Americans who are vulnerable and
uninformed about the FDA-documented risks of antidepressants, or whether
these Congressmen are simply ignorant and out of touch.
Julie Edgington’s son Manie turned blue at birth and had to be transported by
helicopter to a hospital with facilities equipped to give him life-sustaining
treatments. One procedure involved ripping a hole in his heart with a catheter
and balloon inserted through an artery in his leg. Manie almost had to have his
leg amputated, but on day eight doctors detected a pulse in his foot just before
starting a twelve-hour open heart surgery to correct a condition called
Transposition of the Great Arteries, in which the aorta and pulmonary arteries in
the heart are switched. Manie scraped through with his life, his leg, and lasting
physical and emotional scars.
According to FDA MedWatch data from the past four years, Paxil use during
pregnancy was reported as the primary suspect cause of approximately two
thirds of all drug-precipitated cases of Transposition of the Great Arteries. It
wasn’t until Manie was about two years old that Julie finally discovered the Paxil-
TGA link. She now has a lawsuit against drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.
Edgington said, “I want Senator Reid to think about how he would feel if he were
in my place or Manie’s place. Manie will have to suffer for the rest of his life. I
think if you were to ask Manie how he felt about this legislation, if he were old
enough, he would consider this far worse than simply controversial.” Julie doesn’t
understand why Congress would want to do anything to the people that could
result in more birth defects and death. “The guilt and the heartache I feel is
unbelievable. Sitting there looking at your baby and wondering if he is going to
live or die, I don’t think a person can feel any worse. The way I felt when I was
popping Paxil while I was pregnant was nothing compared to this. Nobody should
ever take these pills, not even as a last resort.”
Kim Witczak, founder of WoodyMatters.com found Reid’s attempt to slip the
MOTHERS Act through without hearings, discussion, or debate “insulting.” Kim
has made more than 30 trips to Washington, D.C. in an effort to educate
Congress and reform policy on drug safety. Her late husband Woody hanged
himself after taking Zoloft for insomnia for a total of five weeks.
Witczak said she wonders why the same Congress that appeared concerned
about drug safety during last year’s hearings on the PDUFA legislation would
attempt to pass a bill like The MOTHERS act without any consideration for the
effects it could have on the public. “This bill would really set new mothers up for
depression by convincing them it’s likely to happen. As a woman, if someone
offered me this sort of screening, I would say ‘No way,’ and ‘No thank you.’ I feel
very strongly that with the potential effect of death, this sort of legislation
deserves serious investigation.”
Kim Crespi, whose husband David killed their twin daughters in 2006 after taking
Prozac for seven days, called the actions of the cosponsors who tried to bypass
normal procedure irresponsible. Kim said she feels Prozac caused David’s
psychotic break, and she doesn’t think that our current mental health system
takes the adverse effects of the available medications into account at all.
“Without acknowledging these effects, we are treating people beyond their level
of control and then holding them completely responsible when all hell breaks
loose. Congress needs to carefully pursue and consider the truth before even
thinking of passing The MOTHERS Act.”
Caroline Gammell, who had suicidal thoughts after three days on Celexa,
contacted various government agencies and officials including members and
committees in Congress after her drug reaction in 1999, but has never received
any response. She said she is worried about anything that could enable
someone to pump her full of drugs that could be deadly, adding that since she
hasn’t yet had children, she considers the proposed legislation especially scary.
Drug-sponsored groups have worked hard for the past several sessions of
Congress trying to pass The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act via
deceptive P.R. and pharmaceutical contributions to members of Congress, and
are likely to continue their efforts indefinitely. With the demonstrated lack of
concern from so many doctors over the recent revelation that antidepressant
effectiveness is no greater than that of a placebo, patients are left all too often
ignorant and accepting of medical advice to use these drugs. When politics and
profits take precedence over human life, and drugs that can kill are pushed on
patients like candy, it becomes the responsibility of the public to protect
themselves.