Ben Nelson: I'll sell my vote if I get to criticize ya later.
I hated the bill and then I loved the bill (along with the dollars). The bill paid for abortion and was bad, but then it magically didn’t pay for abortions and was good. My vote pushed the bill forward, but just so you know, I don’t think the bill should have been pushed forward.
Huh?
Those sentences are paraphrases of what Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) has been telling Nebraska voters ever since coming home for the holidays. Nelson was the last Democrat hold out for the Senate version of the health reform bill. He was holding out for a pro-life amendment to be added to the bill. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered Nelson a very different amendment. If Nelson would vote for the bill, than Nebraska (specifically by name) would get $100 million for Medicaid paid to the state. Nelson’s vote was officially bought.
The incident is now infamously known as the “Cornhusker Kickback.” It has gotten a lot of attention. Recently even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has removed his support of Obamacare. The Governater jokes that the only way California will support the bill is if they get a special deal like Nebraska.
“California’s congressional delegation should either vote against this bill, that is a disaster for California, or get in there and fight for the same sweetheart deal that Senator Nelson of Nebraska got for the Cornhusker state. Because that Senator got for the Cornhusker state the corn, and we got the husk.” – Gov. Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger knows how to call a spade a spade. Nelson, however, thinks he can talk his way out of this one. The Senator has been running ads and talking to the media in an attempt to spin the story in his favor. He recently asked The Freemont Tribune to interview him on this topic. (Special thanks to Jill Stanek for catching this one.)
“I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy…I think everybody’s felt rushed, because they set a number of different deadlines and didn’t meet them. I think it was unwise in retrospect.” – Sen. Nelson
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