Warren blasts GOP medical research bill as 'extortion'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is leading the charge to defeat a medical research bill she says is a big giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry covered by a "tiny fig leaf of funding" for actual research and other health spending.

Warren, who was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders in opposing the bill, called on Democrats Monday to stand up for the American people against the corporate lobbyists who have swarmed Capitol Hill to shape the legislation. Warren supports some aspects of the bill, known as the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes a bipartisan mental health initiative and limited funding for things like cancer research ($4.8 billion over a decade to the National Institutes of Health) and drug prevention to address opioid addiction ($1 billion in state grants).

But she ultimately blasted Republicans for "trying to buy off Democratic votes, one-by-one, by tacking on good, bipartisan proposals that senators in both parties have worked on, in good faith, for years."...
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/1605192