The timing was terrible, and having one disaster after another didn't help. I think the pictures on television of the way in which the disaster was handled also helped to turn off the public and Congress.

) against Tauzin and accused him of using unethical tactics to push a bill that "the pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote". Tauzin defeated Democratic State Senator Tony Guarisco and another Democrat who also later turned Republican: Jim Donelon.

He was also a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1980 to 2005 representing Louisiana's 3rd congressional district. He was President and CEO of PhRMA a pharmaceutical company lobby group.