Our Chatty Cathy Congress

Those of us former little girls of a certain age can remember a doll that we all had to have. She was called Chatty Cathy, and if you pulled a string in her neck, she would say things like “Please brush my hair” and “Let’s have a party!”

It turns out that Chatty Cathy and the United States House of Representatives have a lot in common. Except in Congress’ case, it is the biotechnology industry that has been pulling the string.

Health Reform: How The Drug Companies Won A Big One

$609,000 a day. That’s how much the drug and biotech companies have been spending to influence Congress in the health reform debate, more than any other industry. So it’s no surprise that they have been extraordinarily successful. In the upcoming issue of dead-tree TIME, Michael Scherer and I look behind the scenes at the fight [...]