Nelson May Ask That His Nebraska Deal Be Removed

[ensho]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/nelson-may-ask-that-his-nebraska-deal-be-removed.php?ref=fpb


-snip-

The deal, granted Nebraska federal funding in perpetuity for a Medicaid expansion -- something no other states got -- and has become political ammo for Republicans, who've been calling it the "Cornhusker Kickback." Nelson got the deal, reportedly, for accepting a compromise on abortion language.

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Though he defended the exemption as a "fair deal," he said he never asked for the full federal funding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ended up granting his state. Nelson said he instead asked that states be allowed to refuse an expansion of Medicaid.
"This is the way Senate leadership chose to handle it. I never asked for 100 percent funding," he said.

Nelson has maintained that the only reason he even brought up Medicaid was that Nebraska Republican Gov. Dave Heineman put him up to it.
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Nelson also said three lawmakers have told him they're seeking similar deals for their states.
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[LastNaturalist]

1. Ben brings home the bacon. I'd take him over Lieberman anyday.

[TwilightGardener]

2. "Dave Heineman and Mutual of Omaha told me to do it!"

How many masters can he serve?

[LastNaturalist]

4. "Waaah. Time to trot out some corporate conspiracy!"

[GodlessBiker]

3. LOL! There will be even more screaming back home if they take it out.

[frazzled]

5. No, no ... what he wanted was worse than the giveaway he got

and what he got is actually good for progressives:

"This is the way Senate leadership chose to handle it." Nelson said. "I never asked for 100 percent funding." What Nelson asked for was, in fact, much worse. He wanted individual states to have to "opt in" to the Medicaid program. That would have gutted the Medicaid expansion, at least across the red states, and cost the federal government billions more, because providing subsidies for private insurance is far costlier than providing Medicaid. The eventual price tag would've been far more than $100 million, and the bill's internal structure would be a lot less stable. Reid, to his credit, saw this, and made the problem go away by throwing money at Nebraska.

That's created a few days of bad press, but as Tom Harkin points out, it could eventually lead to good policy. "When you look at it, I thought well, God, good, it is going to be the impetus for all the states to stay at 100 percent ," Harkin told reporters. "So he might have done all of us a favor."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/12/in_praise_of_the_nelson_deal.html

[rucky]

6. Nelson is in the catbird seat right now.

He's not giving that up.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. What I want to know: is what he asked for even constitutional?

[rucky]

8. I'm pretty sure this is what is meant by earmarking

and it happens all the time. Landrieu and Sanders also brought home gifts for their respective states.

[guruoo]

9. Tn Republicans trying to use Nelson deal as excuse for state opt out...

Nebraska deal could nix health care bill, Ramsey says

* Erik Schelzig, Associated Press
* Posted December 23, 2009 at midnight
NASHVILLE - Republican state Senate speaker and gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey wants the state attorney general
to look into whether a deal struck in the U.S. Senate on health care legislation could create an opening for Tennessee
to opt out of the program.

Ramsey told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he considers concessions won by conservative Democratic U.S.
Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska in return for his vote to be unconstitutional. Among other things, Nelson won an
agreement that the federal government will pay to expand Medicaid services in his state.

"There are lots of issues with the health care bill in general, but the way it was finally put together almost
makes you sick to your stomach," said Ramsey of Blountville. "We want to find some way we can opt out of this legislation."

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/dec/23/ramsey-seeks-loophole/