Lobbyist Business Booms as Oversight Hearings Start

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding hearings on "waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars"; topics include Iraq reconstruction, Homeland Security contracting, and prescription drug pricing. Companies called to testify are "scrambling to hire lobbyists with Democratic ties," reports Bloomberg. Among pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer hired Glover Park Group, AstraZeneca hired Venable, and Roche hired William Clyburn, the "cousin of the House's third-ranking Democrat, Jim Clyburn of South Carolina." The biotech firm Amgen hired the Duberstein Group and Lent, Scrivner & Roth. Among military contractors, Halliburton hired Patton Boggs and Halliburton unit KBR hired Akin Gump Strauss, "whose partners include Democratic former House Speaker Thomas Foley." And "two former Justice Department officials who have formed their own lobbying firm," Mark Corallo and Barbara Comstock, are advising Blackwater USA, as well as "oil and drug companies."

Main Source: 
Bloomberg, January 31, 2007
Topics: 
Iraq
U.S. Congress
Corporations
Lobbying
Pharmaceuticals
Politics

Comments

Globalstomp replied on

If this is going to be a real hearing and not just rhetoric
then they should be there for a couple of damn years.

I would like to find out where the 3.9 TRILLION dollars
missing from the pentagon went and where did the money come
from that the military is handing out to the troops by the
wheel barrel full and filming it to blackmail them into
staying?

Also why did Halliburton and Black Water receive those no bid
contracts and why is Cheney still getting rich off
Halliburton stock while our troops are dying.

Also I noticed Merck is not on the list when
they should be answering for those horrible vaccines being
forced on young 11 yr old girls in Texas by governor Perry
and other states for cervical cancer at $360 dollars a pop.
They lie when they say that this cancer is one of the more
prevalent when in fact it's near the bottom of the list.
This is a cancer transmittable by sex for women in their
forties and I don't think 11yr old girls are having sex yet.

Those vaccines are poison and contain live cancer viruses
and there many reports of seizures and illness associated
with this poison. I believe Merck is trying to recover their
losses from the Vioxx litigations at the expense of our
childrens health.

My opinion is they will whitewash this whole thing trying
to make themselves look like they are taking action
for the people there by putting on a good performance for
the media, while the people who should be held accountable
will walk from hiring all those high priced lawyers.

I hope they prove me wrong but logic dictates NO.

ochoco replied on

They are talking about home land security and here there going to let Mexican Truck Drivers come into this country driveling trucks, what sneaking across the river isn’t getting them in this country fast enough. When are we going to call this quits
Terry Branch