Ben Nelson — The Senate Strumpet

Ben Nelson

Three of these things belong together.  Three of these things are kind of the same.

Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?  Now it’s time to play our game…time to play our game.

Sydney Biddle Barrows
Heidi Fleiss
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts’ role in Pretty Woman)

If you guessed Ben Nelson you may…go stand in the corner wearing a dunce cap.   I admit this was a trick question.  Vivian Ward was a fictional character.  The others are actual whores.

Senator Nelson took a page from the Mary Landreau Primer on Political Prostitution and held out his vote for ObamaCare until he received special favors for his state.  In exchange for “services rendered” (his vote) Nelson managed to have Nebraska taxpayers exempted from the state’s 50% obligation for Medicare payments for new participants.  In perpetuity!   Maybe for the first time in history we have a written contract between the prostitute and the client.  It reads as follows:

‘‘(3) Notwithstanding subsection (b) and paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection, the Federal medical assistance percentage otherwise determined under subsection (b) with respect to all or any portion of a fiscal year that begins on or after January 1, 2017, for the State of Nebraska, with respect to amounts expended for newly eligible individuals described in subclause (VIII) of section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i), shall be determined as provided for under subsection (y)(1) (A) (notwithstanding the period provided for in such paragraph)

Federal and state governments split Medicare’s costs.  Because the legislation being considered greatly expands the Medicare states will have to ante up a lot more money.  (Hidden tax increases, anyone?)  Check that…Nebraska’s taxpayers are exempt from the increases the rest of us will be subject to.

Harry Reid is happy.  He got his decisive 60th vote.  Ben Nelson is happy.  He sold that 60th vote in exchange for a sweetheart deal for his constituents.  The rest of us?  We’re the ones who’ve been violated.

I've Also Written...

• Requiem for Kennedy | The Barbican
• Finally -- Some Sanity in the Healthcare Discussion | The Barbican
• A Back-Door Means to Enforce the Fairness Doctrine | The Barbican

Other Sites To Try

• The Bath County Hillbilly
• “The Blessing And The Curse Of America”
• The Stranger