Bad Nelson, Bayh, and Lincoln Objectively Pro-Cornhusker Kickback

/in /by

Picture 184Thus far today, Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, and Blache Lincoln have come out against passing health care reform through sidecar reconciliation.

Of course that means they’re defending all the corrupt aspects of the Senate bill that proved to be so unpopular in MA, starting with the Cornhusker Kickback (and including the Louisiana Purchase that similarly bought off Mary Landrieu). And they’ve flip-flopped on their earlier demands that such corrupt deals be removed from the bill.

Mind you, I can’t say I’m surprised that Bad Nelson and Blanche and Bayh can’t decide whether they want to keep or lose their personal bribes. Just that if anyone should be labeled a monster, it’s probably the folks so diligently protecting the stuff that voters say, overwhelmingly, they despise.

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  1. wavpeac says:

    All I can say is that I am beyond disgusted in Nelson…and disgusted with any of my neighbors who might “support” his behavior of late. I think Nebraskans just get excited to see the state’s name in the head lines. At any rate, I have written letter after letter, I have signed every thing I can. I have called. To no avail…he believes his press, and he believes the state is behind him.

    I could move to IA…which is better in a few ways…my husband would like that…moving to IA.

  4. Neil says:

    If they go with side car reconciliation, what is the list of thing in the Senate bill they would most likely modify by amendment and what things would they leave untouched? I haven’t been folowing the debate about what the house finds “unacceptable” and the senate has identified as a “must have.”

    …assuming the approach is to change the Senate Bill to make it passable in both houses (as opposed to making the house bill viable in the Senate.)

  5. browngregbrown says:

    “Just that if anyone should be labeled a monster, it’s probably the folks so diligently protecting the stuff that voters say, overwhelmingly, they despise.”

    -nods- Agreed. Fucking monsters…

  7. Mary says:

    Given that Nelson and his wheeling/dealing for Nebraska is a hugely prevalent topic in the right wing emailers that all my extended family (and me for that matter – somehow I’m on Cornyn’s mailing list??) get, to the extent Obama wants to woo any conservatives over, aligning himself with Ben Nelson is a huge loser.

    OT – but I haven’t really found Froomkin that much/that easily since his move, but the piece he put up 1-24 here is really good (in a depressing way) and it links to several pieces at Nieman Watchdog by Hanrahan (I haven’t gotten through most of them -I skipped to the ones on the need for a second stimulus) that look like they will be pretty good as well.

  11. prostratedragon says:

    Sort of OT: Have people seen the article about how Abramoff got the whistle blown on him? In keeping with the spirit of this day, one could call this terrific story a “moron” ‘s revenge:

    For years, speculation about the Abramoff whistleblower has focused on the supposed revenge of a former fiancee of Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s right-hand man. Others suspected Republican lobbyists jealous of the enormous fees Abramoff collected from Indian tribes.

    But some of the very tribes Abramoff deceived and defrauded turned on him and worked to destroy him — with the help of [Tom] Rodgers, a trusted fellow Native American familiar with the ways of Washington.

  12. DavidKaib says:

    It takes 60 votes to do anything for the people, and 50 votes to enact the agenda of the conservative movement or to impose another term for Bernanke on us. It is in the Constitution (or so I understand.)

    • papau says:

      The GOP does sell the idea that 60 votes are needed for anything other than tax cuts – but the history is different – 23 times in 21 years budget recon has been used for changes that were not exclusively tax changes – there was “policy” via program changes.

      The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, (Pub.L. 105-33, 111 Stat. 251), was signed into law on August 5, 1997. It was an omnibus legislative package enacted using the budget reconciliation process and designed to balance the federal budget by 2002. Among many other things, the Act contained major Medicare changes.

      It also contained SCHIP – State Children’s Health Insurance Program – which was then passed as an expansion under Title XXI of the Social Security Act and signed into law by Bill Clinton as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 – to take effect the following month following the August 5, 1997 signing. The method of passage meant it had to renewed in 2007 and Bush signed an extension to March 31, 2009 in Dec 2007. In Feb 2009 the progran was reauthorized through 2013.

  13. lennonist says:

    To paraphrase Natalie Maines: ““Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president senator… is from TexasNebraska.”

    As Think Progress noted today, Nelson had no problem voting for 4 of the 5 bills passed via reconciliation since he came into office in 2001 “including Bush’s tax cuts for the super-wealthy.”

    The senator was one of twelve Democrats who voted for the $1.3 trillion in tax cuts contained in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which included billions of dollars of tax cuts for the super-wealthy. [5/26/2001]

    – Nelson voted to use reconciliation to pass Bush’s follow-up tax cuts for the wealthy in 2003. The senator was one of only two Democrats who voted for the The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which contained an additional $330 billion in tax cuts. The tax cuts would not have passed without Nelson’s vote. [5/23/2003]

    – Nelson voted to use reconciliation to pass an extension of the reduced tax rates on capital gains. The senator was one of three Democrats to vote to shield wealthy investors from an increase in their capital gains tax with a vote in the affirmative for the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 . [5/11/2006]

  15. johnSwifty22 says:

    I just heard on Tweety (why I listened I have no idea–I turned the TV on and MSNBC just came up) that Mike Pence has announced he will not run against Bayh. Why would the Republicans run another candidate when they already own that seat? Bayh should get the wolf in sheep’s clothing award, ad infinitum.

  16. topcat says:

    Well, we won’t have Blanche Lincoln to complain about after November- she’s about as popular as leprosy. I just hope we can take her out in the primary. Nelson has about worn out his welcome in NE, too, but Bayh has a clear field in IN. I think I’d rather have a real GOPer in that seat than Bayh, though. Birch Bayh must be turning in his grave watching what Evan is doing.

  17. orionATL says:

    Ew

    I ran across what seemed, on the face of it, a contradiction in
    The nelson storyline.

    Wapoop/amy goldstein/1-17-10.

    The goldstein report seems to say that nelson did not ask for “Medicaid forever” payments.

    That deal was OFFERED to him.

    True? I don’t know.

    Then a nytimes/ap report/1-20-10

    Involved sen landrieu and Medicaid, apparently a big problem in that state for governing repubs and dems.

    Question:

    Were nelson, landrieu, and maybe Lincoln(though
    I have read nothing about her re this issue)

    Demanding to be paid for their vote or

    just using their infrequently available clout (re health care , but remember the “60 votes or die” was a sham)

    to get something for their poor states?

    A derivative question is:

    whether the white house just pulled out a wad of Medicare/Medicaid bills and started handing them out to voters – Chicago style?

    Black-mail?

    Or

    Bribery?

    Selling votes?

    Or

    Buying votes?

    One thing’s for sure, this health
    “Reform” effort that has taken a year and produced nothing,

    nothing that is except contempt for a once popular president,
    That, to me, Is to an indication of a remarkably politically incompent whitehouse operation.

  18. bobw1975 says:

    I cannot stress enough, just how important it is that these Senators don’t win re-election. The Democratic Party will never move forward if we keep electing the same old politicians that keep voting against their own party.
    I am asking all the viewers of this post to help see that the following Senators are voted out of office on their next election. The way we do this, is by spreading the word through viewer comments on posts throughout the internet on news sites and blogs. Keep posting their names and date when their up for re-election. We can do this so please help. We can’t keep re-electing the same people over and over again and expect a different result.
    1. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas in 2010
    2. Evan Bayh of Indiana in 2010
    3. Ben Nelson of Nebraska in 2012
    4. Kent Conrad of North Dakota in 2012
    5. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut in 2012
    6. Bill Nelson of Florida in 2012
    7. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana in 2014
    8. Max Baucus of Montana in 2014
    These Senators more than any other have consistently voted against their own party and with the Republicans on legislation going through the Senate. These Senators are the main reason Health Care Reform turned into such a bad bill no one in their right mind could support it. These Senators with the help of Republicans water down, added amendments and stretched out and stalled the Health bill in order for it to fail.

  19. aknarayan says:

    The House and Senate have already voted for the bill (in particular Lincoln, Nelson and Bayh) and to vote against something after already voting for it just looks spineless and hypocritical. Repubs will criticize Dems running for re-election in 2010 no matter what they do on health care.