Fiscal Footnote: Big Senate Gift to Drug Maker

Senator's Gift To Big Pharma Causing Problems For Medicare
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, as fiscal cliff negotiations continued. Working against a midnight deadline, negotiators for the White House and congressional Republicans in Congress narrowed their differences Monday on legislation to avert across-the-board tax increases. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON — Just two weeks after pleading guilty in a major federal fraud case, Amgen, the world’s largest biotechnology firm, scored a largely unnoticed coup on Capitol Hill: Lawmakers inserted a paragraph into the “fiscal cliff” bill that did not mention the company by name but strongly favored one of its drugs.

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