Kent Conrad Scores Special Student Loan Deal For North Dakota In Reconciliation Package

[seafan]

Jon Walker at FDL is doing a stellar job of sleuthing:


March 18, 2010 11:40 am

It looks like Kent Conrad (D-ND), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee through which any reconciliation bill must pass, scored a nice, little, special deal for his home state as part of the student loan reform portion of the reconciliation package. From the summary of the bill:

Section 2213. Agreements with State-Owned Banks. This section amends Part D of Title IV to direct the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an eligible lender for the purpose of providing Federal loan insurance on student loans made by state-owned banks.

Guess which is the only state-owned bank in the entire country–that’s right, it is the Bank of North Dakota.

Personally, I like the idea of state-owned banks to handle the states’ own bank accounts, and make long term investments in the local economy. The Bank of North Dakota has done some good for the state, and could be a model for others. If the one provision in this bill encourages a few other states to create state-owned banks, it might not even be a bad thing. But, as it currently stands, this is clearly a special deal secured by Kent Conrad for his home state.

I said all along that Democrats just couldn’t help themselves when it came to special deals in the reconciliation package. Even though they knew special deals like this were helping to kill support for the bill, they still slipped more special deals into the reconciliation package. A reconciliation package whose main point was to “fix” all the the problematic special deals in the first bill. Sometimes it seems like Democrats never learn.

Update: Within a few hours of this posting, Sen. Conrad had his staff call the House to remove this special favor from the “fix bill.”

This pasty, disgusting dude is one of the main reasons that we are in this cluster*$**, one year later.

[virgogal]

1. Didn't stuff like this used to be called bribery?

[vadawg]

13. it still is if you take of the politically coloured specs, cant believe how open they are being

bribery nowadays and i cant believe they think people dont see it and understand it :shrug:

[karynnj]

2. He did have the sense to ask that it be removed - even if only after he was called on it

In addition, though it is a special deal - it is like the Louisiana one that any state that in the future had that definition would qualify. Though the coincidence of him being the chair of budget makes it unseemly.

[sandnsea]

5. I'd think the left would support a state owned bank

But I guess all bets are off when it comes to ripping apart this health care bill.

[karynnj]

12. I agree with you - it seems like a good idea

but I think he and you are right that in the current environment leaving it in would create havoc.

[chollybocker]

3. How's that anti-pork bill coming along?

(crickets)

[sandnsea]

6. This is about getting banks out of the student loan business

You'd think DU would be in pure bliss over this bill, and equally in support of letting a state owned "socialist" bank continue processing the loans for North Dakota.

[chollybocker]

16. Not really.

It's about a politician personally profiting from a bill that has absolutely nothing to do with student loans at banks.

That may be your pet issue, but it's got nothing to do with what this is about. :)

[sandnsea]

17. This is about the new student loan bill

The student loan bill that is taking banks completely out of the picture.

It's not my pet issue. It's a part of the reconciliation bill.

The Bank of North Dakota is not a typical greedy for profit bank. It's a state run bank. As such, it really doesn't need to be removed from handling student loans. It's quite simple and has nothing to do with the health care bill - AT ALL.

Sadly, there are so many people in this country who will just fucking SAY ANYTHING that the truth is almost nonexistent.

[chollybocker]

18. "It's quite simple and has nothing to do with the health care bill - AT ALL."

Couldn't have said it better if I hadn't already said it myself. ;)

[sandnsea]

19. Do you oppose student loan reform?

I really don't get your point.

Anything can be in a reconciliation bill.

[sandnsea]

7. Dupe

[sandnsea]

4. This was posted a while ago

No sleuthing required. Conrad thought that a state owned bank was different than a for profit bank, and you'd think lefties would agree, but said it wasn't worth the distraction from this very important legislation.

[seafan]

8. The Nelson deal, the Landrieu deal, the Florida deal, as does this one, appear unseemly.

...just by virtue that these people try to slip in all sorts of special deals for their individual states, with the attitude of 'to hell with everyone else', all the while holding genuine health care reform hostage.

[bluestateguy]

9. What a dimtwit

I oppose any special deals for red states.

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Fuck him and the rug that rode in on his head.

How about "student loan co-ops", C*nt?

I'm surprised he didn't ask for them. :eyes:

[Bluebear]

11. Because it's all about "health care" for Americans.

[laughingliberal]

14. Great! One of the key players in killing the public option gets a treat for his help. nt

[Pirate Smile]

15. He asked for it to be yanked now. I don't know why he didn't know it was going to be a problem

in the first place. There was a story just a day or two ago regarding how some of the Senators were resisting the Obama Administration's attempts to get rid of their special deals.