Billy Tauzin -- "You're Out!" As PhRMA President -- Internal Discord Cited

So, apparently the pharma players now feel Tauzin's $80 billion deal with the Administration was too large, as a concession to reform. Now that reform faces a less certain future, and pharma may not reap all the enhanced revenue-streams it expected in return for closing the doughnut hole, Tauzin's leadership is being questioned, it seems.

In fact, it is quite possible pharma will need to kick in more than $100 billion -- perhaps $120 billion (just as I earlier predicted). Did Tauzin promise the pharma CEOs that $80 billion would be all they'd ever pay? I don't know, but it seems decidedly like his brand of hubris -- to make such a sweeping promise, before the game even got underway, in earnest.

Per The New York Times, overnight:

. . . .Billy Tauzin, one of the highest paid lobbyists in Washington, is resigning as president of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s trade group amid internal disputes over its pact with the White House to trade political support for favorable terms in the proposed health care overhaul. . . .

[My long time readers will recall that Fred Hassan last held this seat -- before Tauzin.] Good-luck in your next gig, Billy!

LATER: This will become another post in a minute, but the Sunlight Foundation has a well-sourced video out -- its only shortcoming is that it fails to mention that Tauzin's PhRMA deal appears to be tattered, as of this morning's news. Thus, reimportation may turn out tobe the very thing that caused Tauzin's ouster. Take a look -- it is only 2:15 long -- with fabulous graphics, I might add:



H/T Marcy Wheeler, a/k/a Empty Wheel, for the Sunlight Foundation video.