Top-ranking liberal lawmaker Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) pressed her colleagues to support a legislative counterpunch to the GOP’s effort to defund the controversial grass-roots organizing group ACORN.

McCollum, a senior Democratic Whip in her caucus, challenged the 172 Democrats who supported a measure to cut off federal funds for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to endorse a similar measure geared towards private companies in business with the government.

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In the findings portion of her bill, McCollum cites a recent case where pharmaceutical company Pfizer pleaded guilty to “intent to defraud or mislead” for the “illegal promotion of” Bextra – an arthritis drug voluntarily withdrawn from the market in 2005.

Under McCollum’s bill, Pfizer would be ineligible to enter into deals with the government. There have been many cases involving the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2008 alone, the pharmaceutical industry contributed $13,701,439 to federal candidates, divided equally between Democrats and Republicans, according to opensecrets.org.