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Senator Bill Frist M.D.


Self Description

October 2005: "First elected to the U.S. Senate on November 8, 1994, Dr. Frist was the only challenger to defeat a full-term incumbent in 1994 and the first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928. A fourth generation Tennessean whose great, great grandfather was one of Chattanooga's 53 original settlers, Dr. Frist is the 54th U.S. Senator from Tennessee. On November 7, 2000, Bill Frist was elected to a second term in the United States Senate by the largest vote total ever received by a candidate for statewide election in the history of Tennessee.

Born and raised in Nashville, Bill Frist graduated in 1974 from Princeton University where he specialized in health care policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 1978 he graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School and spent the next seven years in surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital; Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, England; and Stanford University Medical Center. He is board certified in both general surgery and heart surgery.

In 1985, Dr. Frist joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he founded and subsequently directed the multi-disciplinary Vanderbilt Transplant Center....

Dr. Frist rose rapidly through Senate leadership. In 2000, he was unanimously elected chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for the 107th Congress and in December 2002 was unanimously elected Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate (108th Congress). Under his leadership as Chairman of the NRSC, for the first time in history, the party of the President won back majority control of the U.S. Senate in a midterm election. He assumed his position as the 18th Senate Majority Leader and 14th Republican Floor Leader having served fewer total years in the U.S. Congress than any previous leader."

http://frist.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorFrist.Biography

Third-Party Descriptions

August 2012: "The Merrill bankers found a receptive audience. Thomas F. Frist Jr., a board member, co-founder and brother of Senator Frist, had been a longtime investor in Bain Capital’s buyout funds and contacted the firm to gauge its interest in acquiring HCA through a leveraged buyout and taking it private again, according to S.E.C. documents. A leveraged buyout is an acquisition of a company that is done with large amounts of borrowed money."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/business/hca-giant-hospital-chain-creates-a-windfall-for-private-equity.html

December 2010: 'In 2005 Senator Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican who was then the majority leader, threatened to try to ban filibusters against judicial nominees through what became known as the “nuclear option.” That led to the so-called Gang of 14 agreeing to a compromise on review of judges.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/us/politics/25rules.html

June 2009: 'In December 2006, Speaker Hastert took it a step further by letting Sen. William Frist (R-Tenn.) add on to a bill after the conference committee was finished: 40 pages of legislation protecting makers of avian flu vaccine and similar drugs against liability even if they injured or killed patients through gross negligence. Then Hastert got the Rules Committee to make kosher what he’d done. Frist’s spokesperson claims there was “bipartisan consensus” for such an incentive, but couldn’t explain why it hadn’t made it into the text of the bill if it was so popular. Hastert’s office failed to return our calls.'

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/rip-offs/what-your-congressman-wont-tell-you-20207

December 2008: "While Neteller was prosecuted under the old Wire Act, some lawmakers were working to expand the government's legal arsenal. In 2006, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) spearheaded the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), aimed at stopping money transfers to Internet gambling shops."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002006.html

June 2006: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and other GOP leaders had sought the vote as a way to help galvanize their party's conservative base at a time of flagging public confidence in the Bush administration and Congress. Some conservatives sought to put a positive face on the outcome, noting that proposed constitutional amendments typically encounter an uphill battle.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060700830.html

December 2005: ...Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed in connection with probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department into his sale of stock in HCA Inc., the chain founded by his father and brother.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400945.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) HCA, Inc. (Hospital Corporation of America) Organization Oct 14, 2005
Student/Trainee (past or present) Harvard University Organization Oct 14, 2005
Student/Trainee (past or present) Princeton University Organization Oct 14, 2005
Organization Executive (past or present) Member of (past or present) Republican Party (U.S.) / Republican National Committee Organization Oct 14, 2005
Student/Trainee (past or present) Stanford University Organization Oct 14, 2005
Member of (past or present) US House of Representatives Organization
Member of (past or present) Organization Head/Leader (past or present) US Senate Organization Oct 14, 2005
Student/Trainee (past or present) Vanderbilt University Organization Oct 14, 2005
Advised by (past or present) Mitch Bainwol Person Sep 7, 2004
Colleague/Co-worker of (past or present) Sen. Robert "Bob" F. Bennett Person Aug 19, 2006
Family Member Thomas F. Frist Jr. Person Aug 15, 2012

Articles and Resources

48 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 20]   [End]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Aug 14, 2012 A Giant Hospital Chain Is Blazing a Profit Trail

QUOTE: HCA’s emergence as a powerful leader in the hospital industry is all the more remarkable because only a decade ago the company was badly shaken by a wide-ranging Medicare fraud investigation that it eventually settled for more than $1.7 billion. Among the secrets to HCA’s success: It figured out how to get more revenue from private insurance companies, patients and Medicare by billing much more aggressively for its services than ever before; it found ways to reduce emergency room overcrowding and expenses; and it experimented with new ways to reduce the cost of its medical staff, a move that sometimes led to conflicts with doctors and nurses over concerns about patient care.

 New York Times
Dec 24, 2010 Democrats Seek Changes to Senate Procedures

QUOTE: Frustrated by routine filibusters and other procedural blockades, Senate Democrats are urging their leadership to negotiate with Republicans to change the rules that govern how the Senate does business. The Democrats would leave intact the ability of the minority party to filibuster legislation and nominations, meaning that in most cases it would still take 60 votes to get anything done. But they want to require senators to be on the floor if they intend to try to debate a bill to death and would make other changes to streamline the Senate’s operations...

 New York Times
Jun 30, 2009 10 Things Your Congressperson Won't Say

QUOTE: 2. “I’m above the law”....8. “I simply can’t be fired”....10. “Rules are meant to be broken.”

 Smart Money
Dec 01, 2008 Prohibition vs. Regulation Debated As U.S. Bettors Use Foreign Sites

QUOTE: Even as bettors around the world gamble millions of dollars online, confusion reigns about the legal status of those bets and the companies that handle them. According to the Justice Department, Neteller was "a colossal criminal enterprise masquerading as a legitimate business," violating a 47-year-old law aimed at organized-crime bookies. Prosecutors contend the law applies to any and all betting on the Internet, as well as the electronic money transfers enabling those bets.

 Washington Post
Jun 25, 2007 Fred Thompson: The Philip Morris Candidate

QUOTE: If Fred Thompson is elected president, he will be the first federally registered lobbyist to become Commander in Chief. ... Thompson's prospective presidential bid stands out in another respect: No campaign has been so dominated by staffers and advisers who have worked on behalf of Philip Morris, one of the world's leading tobacco conglomerates and a leading force in promoting cigarette smoking.

 Huffington Post
Jan 22, 2007 Showdown Looms in Congress Over Drug Advertising on TV

QUOTE: "Criticism of direct-to-consumer advertising has intensified since 2004, after Merck withdrew Vioxx, a heavily advertised painkiller, after a clinical trial showed that it sharply increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes."

 New York Times
Oct 11, 2006 What Your Congressman Won't Tell You

QUOTE: ...historically, most [police] officers have operated under the mistaken impression that the Constitution prohibits arresting or even ticketing congressmen while Congress is in session.

 Smart Money
Sep 14, 2006 Congress lifts blinds on its spending: After 2005's bribery and corruption scandals, Congress moves to list US federal expenditures on a searchable database.

QUOTE: It's the least controversial of all the reforms Congress has considered since last year's bribery and corruption scandals, and its passage will provide an effective new tool for anyone wanting to look over lawmakers' shoulders soon after they clear spending bills.

 Christian Science Monitor
Sep 07, 2006 Congress eyes 'pork-barrel' reforms: With the US public pressing for change, both Senate and House consider making earmarks and their sponsors far more visible

QUOTE: the reforms would mark a sea change in the way Congress does business, especially in the Senate, where project add-ons are seldom challenged before a vote - and where a senator's "secret hold" on a bill is enough to derail it quietly.

 Christian Science Monitor
Sep 06, 2006 Bush Transfers 14 Key Suspects to Guantanamo: President Acknowledges Covert Detention Program

QUOTE: President Bush yesterday announced the transfer of the last 14 suspected terrorists held by the CIA at secret foreign prisons to the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and said he wants to try them before U.S. military panels under proposed new rules he simultaneously sent to Congress.

 Washington Post
Sep 06, 2006 GOP Senators Differ With President on Military Trials: Terrorism Suspects' Right To Information Is at Issue

QUOTE: Under the lawmakers' plan, any future military trials of the nearly 200 eligible U.S. detainees held in military prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other locations around the world would be governed by a law that explicitly ensures that defendants have the right to know the evidence against them. The Bush administration has long maintained that no law is needed to establish a system of military commissions, as they are known, for trials of terrorism suspects

 Washington Post
Jul 28, 2006 Congress to Adopt Scaled-Down Rules on Lobbying

QUOTE: Unable to agree on major lobbying and ethics legislation, Senate and House leaders have made plans to adopt vastly scaled-back versions of the measures as part of their rules so that lawmakers can claim that they responded to recent congressional scandals...But rank-and-file lawmakers resisted efforts to limit such lobbyist-provided perks, and interest groups began to pressure Congress to reject the harshest proposals.

 Washington Post
Jul 11, 2006 Six-Figure Fines For Four-Letter Words Worry Broadcasters

QUOTE: Last month's tenfold increase in broadcast indecency fines has sent radio and television stations and media giants scurrying to protect themselves, as the cost of uttering a dirty word over the air has turned a minor annoyance into a major business expense.

 Washington Post
Jul 03, 2006 A Workable Line-Item Veto To Control Rampant Earmarks

QUOTE: Last week the House of Representatives voted 247-172 in favor of a measure � the line-item veto � that would grant the President real power to weed wasteful spending from appropriations bills....The increase in earmarked spending has drawn fire from taxpayer groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), which has been tabulating earmarks.

 Accuracy in Media (AIM)
Jun 15, 2006 The New Drilling Battle: High Energy Prices Spur Fresh Debate on Offshore Moratorium

QUOTE: More than a mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico lies a tract of sea floor that is bigger than New Jersey and that oil and gas companies believe holds a trove of natural gas and a measure of salvation for corporate and residential consumers. But the area, three-quarters of which is closed to development, also lies at the center of a fight in Congress over the future of offshore drilling, with billions of dollars at stake. The battle lines pit Republicans against Republicans, Democrats against Democrats, and industry against environmentalists.

 Washington Post
Jun 09, 2006 Senate Plan to Repeal Inheritance Tax Fails: Frist Promises Future Votes on Issue

QUOTE: The Senate rejected a plan yesterday to permanently repeal the federal tax on inherited estates..."The 'death tax' is an unfair burden inflicted upon America's small businesses, farmers, and families during a time of grieving and pain," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist...

 Washington Post
Jun 08, 2006 Gay Marriage Amendment Fails in Senate

QUOTE: A constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, backed by President Bush and conservative groups, was soundly defeated in the Senate yesterday after proponents failed to persuade a bare majority of all senators to support the measure.

 Washington Post
May 26, 2006 'Antique' Phone Tax Dropped: Treasury to Refund $13 Billion Collected on Long-Distance Calls

QUOTE: The Treasury Department, conceding that it has no right to continue collecting a 108-year-old tax on long-distance telephone calls, announced yesterday that it will drop its legal battle for the tax and instead refund about $13 billion to callers who have paid the tax in the past three years.

 Washington Post
May 23, 2006 FBI Raid on Lawmaker's Office Is Questioned: Democrat Jefferson Denies Wrongdoing

QUOTE: An unusual FBI raid of a Democratic congressman's office over the weekend prompted complaints yesterday from leaders in both parties, who said the tactic was unduly aggressive and may have breached the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

 Washington Post
May 15, 2006 The Return Of Voodoo Economics: Republicans Ignore Their Experts on The Cost of Tax Cuts

QUOTE: When top Republicans go around claiming that tax cuts pay for themselves, which economic authorities are they relying on? None, is the answer. These people's approach to government is to make economics up.

 Washington Post

48 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 20]   [End]