GOP Bash Rakes In $30 Million
Pharmaceutical and health-care companies that could benefit from a prescription drug plan now before Congress were among the top donors at a gala Republican Party fund-raising event in Washington Wednesday night.
The dinner, headlined by President Bush, raked in nearly $30 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee and its Senate counterpart.
The event is expected to lift this year's fund-raising total for Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to at least $97.9 million. The president is certain to take it over $100 million at a Florida GOP dinner Friday with his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush.
Among the top corporate donors at Wednesday's fund-raiser were GlaxoSmithKline, a multinational drug giant, which gave at least $250,000, according to the Washington Post. A drug industry trade group, Pharmaceutical Reasearch and Manufacturers of America (PhRMa), contributed $250,000. PhRMa is helping pay for a TV ad campaign promoting the Republican prescription drug plan.
That plan uses a private sector approach to lowering prescription drug costs and would require seniors to pay a $35 monthly premium and meet a $250 yearly deductible. A rival Democratic plan would make the prescription drug benefit part of Medicare, which the drug industry worries could lower their profits.
The prescription drug bill is expected to come up on the House floor for debate next week.
Other big drug donors to the GOP event include Pfizer Inc., which gave at least $100,000; Bayer AG, Eli Lilly and Co., and Merck & Co. each contributed $50,000, according to the Post.
Seventy-three percent of drug industry donations, over $8 million, have gone to Republicans so far in the 2002 election cycle, according to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
After this fall's election, national party committees and federal candidates will be barred from raising soft money – the unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and others targeted by sponsors of a far-reaching new campaign finance law.
A proposal under consideration would bar national parties and federal candidates and officeholders from raising soft money for political activity that includes campaigns, recounts, redistricting and legal defense funds.
Two Republicans and a Democrat criticized the law's sponsors, accusing them of being more concerned with their own interests than with creating clear rules that would not harm public participation in politics.
"The hysteria this has generated is just amusing," said Republican Bradley Smith, referring to fears the FEC would gut the law. "I think it's probably a good thing the American people don't pay much attention to it."
Democratic commissioners Scott Thomas and Danny McDonald defended the sponsors, saying the law is intended to ensure the average person, not just large contributors, can participate in politics.
In the weeks ahead the FEC will address other issues, including the use of soft money for presidential nominating conventions and inaugural events and state and local parties' political ads, as well as how the law will affect election-time ads aired by special-interest groups.
The law's proponents - who point to record fund-raising such as that at Wednesday's congressional dinner as an example of why new restrictions are needed - are watching closely.
"Obviously there's an Oklahoma land rush going on to squeeze the last huge dollar out of the soft-money donors," said Fred Wertheimer, head of Democracy 21 and a proponent of the soft-money ban. "It just dramatizes how important it is for the FEC to get these rules right."