So, how exactly did Senate leadership persuade the few remaining Democrats who were dragging their heels? By appealing to their principles, of course. FoxNews.com reports:
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., won between $100 million and $300 million in additional federal aid for her state’s Medicaid population. The deal, secured before she cast her critical vote in favor of bringing the health bill to the floor, was immediately dubbed the “Louisiana Purchase,” though the actual Louisiana Purchase was considerably cheaper.
… Florida, New York and Pennsylvania — where five of six senators are Democrats — will have their seniors’ Medicare Advantage benefits protected, even as the program sees massive cuts elsewhere.
… Nebraska’s [Sen. Ben Nelson] won permanent federal aid for his state’s expanded Medicaid population, a benefit worth up to $100 million over 10 years. Other states get the federal aid for three years, but Nebraska’s benefit is indefinite.
If the health care bill were really about life and death, it wouldn’t take earmarks to get votes.
No, it took outright payoffs to pass this monstrosity. Bendover Nelson’s “permanent” payoff will not last for Nebraska. Bet on a future Congress repealing that language from future “enhancements” to health care “reform”. All he did was delay the reckoning for a very short time.
Because this country is going to pay – dearly – if this bill is signed into law. American citizens will pay a brutal price for ObamaCare. The Democrats have chopped down the tree of liberty and run it through a wood chipper.
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Votes for sale…with taxpayer dollars.
The more I think about it, it all seems to be a plot to get us back to the good old days of being sunjects instead of being citizens. We are being forcefed a bill we don’t want or trust, haven’t even seen yet, rushed through on a partisan basis, with payouts for the compliant, and no thought for principles. We can be fined and can go to debtor’s prisons if we don’t cough up the tax for health insurance (as designed by an elitist that never ran anything and doesn’t intend to raise a family). The elitists meanwhile will continue to rule from Harvard and Yale, at least until the Chinese call in our debt.
One wonders if the fate of the Republic literally hangs in the balance with the 2010 election?
Since I live in Florida, my Medicare Advantage plan will be protected (at least for the time being) and for that I’m grateful to the taxpayers from the other states who will have to pay for it.
Obviously, it’s not fair, equitable, defensible, or moral, and I apologize to everyone who must pay extra so I don’t have to. All along, I opposed the Obamanation of our health care system, and I will continue to do so.
Also, 3 cheers for Nebraska, the Republican governor was on FOX NEWS this morning rejecting the bribe Senator Ben Nelson got in exchange for his vote. The Governor said Nebraskans didn’t want special exemptions, they wanted equal treatment along with the rest of American. It’s guys like that who restore faith in representative government.
The irony is that none of the deals made by Reid are set in stone, since a conference committee can strip away anything it likes. All Democrats need now is 50 votes in the Senate and 218 in the House.
In other words, Nelson and others have both betrayed their country and may not get their 30 pieces of silver.