John Boehner to Drug Companies: Obama Administration Is Schoolyard Bully

House Minority Leader John Boehner sent an open letter this week to drug company CEOs, comparing the pharmaceutical industry's recent negotiations with the Obama administration to giving lunch money to a schoolyard bully.

"When a bully asks for your lunch money, you may have no choice but to fork it over," Boehner wrote. "But cutting a deal with the bully is a different story, particularly if the 'deal' means helping him steal others' money at the price of protecting your own."

Boehner sent the foreboding letter to Billy Tauzin, a former Republican congressman who is the president of PhRma, the industry's lobbying association. Tauzin served in the House with Boehner and recently struck a deal with the Obama administration to cap drug-related savings for the government at $80 billion in exchange for PhRma's political support for health care reform.

Specifics of the arrangement were never made public, but as details leaked out, Congressional Democrats, including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), made it clear they would not be bound in their legislation by the White House commitment. "We were never part of that deal. We are not bound by that deal," Waxman said recently. Liberal Democrats, in particular, have long derided the drug industry as bilking needy consumers and keeping drug prices artificially high.

Boehner warned Tauzin in the letter that his group will wind up as the loser. "PhRma has chosen to accommodate a Washington takeover of health care at the expense of the American people in hopes of securing favorable treatment and future profits," Boehner said. "It's a short-sighted bargain that leaves your own customers and employees behind. And it now has all the markings of a deal gone sour."

The goal of the letter is to pressure Tauzin to step away from the deal, either directly or under pressure from his members. Republicans point to a mini-revolt by members of AARP, as well as doctors in the American Medical Association, to show that support for health care reform by an association is not the same thing as support from all of its members.

Boehner finished on an ominous note: "The millions of American families who are PhRma customers and the hard-working professionals who work for PhRma companies deserve better than the government takeover of health care being forced upon them. I urge you to rethink your organization's stance, listen to the American people, and join the call for responsible bipartisan health care solutions that truly reflect their priorities."

In a statement, PhRma spokesman Ken Johnson responded: "Saving money during these difficult economic times is very important, as demonstrated by our $80 billion commitment to health care reform. But you simply can't put a price tag on our commitment to saving lives."