Corruption In The Senate: Landrieu’s Vote

The Senate Healthcare bill (HarryCare)  passed the cloture vote. Democrats got the 60 votes needed from the 100 Senators. 58 Democrats plus 2 independents voted ‘yes,’ while 48 Republicans voted ‘no.’

 

Just how did the Democrats get the votes needed to move this turkey of a bill forward in the Senate?

The real star of the health care debate this weekend has been the 2,074-page bill — a physical manifestation of the size and scope of what’s at stake as senators consider the overhaul of one-sixth of the nation’s economy.

“It’s a massive increase in government, as shown by this bill,” Mr. Ensign told a reporter off the floor later, spreading his arms wide as if to encompass the stack of papers that comes in at more than a foot tall and, according to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, weighs in at more than 20 pounds.

The bill contains the word “tax” 511 times and includes 18 tax hikes, according to Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative lobby group. It uses the word “require” more than 1,000 times, the word “shall” more than 3,500 times, and talks about studies required by the bill 150 times.

Democrats hope it also contains enough perks and goodies to win the 60 votes needed to get a bill passed on onto President Obama’s desk.

Perks? Goodies? They want to take over one sixth of the US economy, enact massive tax increases, destroy US healthcare and they use “perks and goodies” to get away with it.

Where in the US Constitution does it say anything about ‘perks and goodies’ to help the campaigns of certain Senators?

Perhaps it’s in the amendment that says a “public option” gives the public the freedom of choice: Buy health insurance or go to jail. I might be cynical.

It doesn’t fall under GENERAL welfare, unless you have ‘friendly’ judges. Well, you know what we say in NJ. What is a judge? A lawyer who knows a politician.

Did all the Senators read and understand the implications of all 2,074-pages of the bill? It was released by Senator Harry Reid on Wednesday, since then, did they have time to understand the constitutionality of the  bill? The consequences of each item?

I call it corruption, pure and simple. Selling votes:

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase.

On the eve of Saturday’s showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn’t secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state.

And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote — and to trumpet the financial “fix” she had arranged for Louisiana. “I am not going to be defensive,” she declared. “And it’s not a $100 million fix. It’s a $300 million fix.”

There is $100 million that we know of, it has been reported by the press. Where is the other super-duper-double-secret $200 million hidden?

It was an awkward moment (not least because her figure is 20 times the original Louisiana Purchase price). But it was fairly representative of a Senate debate that seems to be scripted in the Southern Gothic style. The plot was gripping — the bill survived Saturday’s procedural test without a single vote to spare — and it brought out the rank partisanship, the self-absorption and all the other pathologies of modern politics. If that wasn’t enough of a Tennessee Williams story line, the debate even had, playing the lead role, a Southerner named Blanche with a flair for the dramatic.

After Landrieu threw in her support (she asserted that the extra Medicaid funds were “not the reason” for her vote),

Not the reason. Sorry Mary. I do not for one second believe you. How many other “perks and goodies” are hidden in the 2,074-pages of the bill and who are they for?

SEIU? AARP? AMA?

Here is HR3590 (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Amendment in Senate)) from the Government Printing Office.

My goodness, that is misnamed. As previously quoted “The bill contains the word “tax” 511 times and includes 18 tax hikes, according to Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative lobby group. It uses the word “require” more than 1,000 times, the word “shall” more than 3,500 times, and talks about studies required by the bill 150 times.” Protection and affordable? It’s almost as if… as if they were dishonest!

Oh, By The Way. Nobody in Louisiana can vote for Harry Reid. Harry’s from Nevada. The health care bill was “negotiated” behind closed doors by Harry Reid. As if that doesn’t stink enough,

Sen. Landrieu to host New Orleans fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will host a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in New Orleans next month, an event that comes on the heels of Reid’s assistance getting Louisiana a windfall of Medicaid money in the health care reform bill.

Imagine that.

Is anyone going to explain the other $200 million???

update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update…  update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update… update…

No sooner do I finish a post and I find… here are some of the answers!  The Demcare bribe list

$300 million to California, AARP. THE ABORTION LOBBY, BIG LABOR…

Wheeling & dealing: Snowe pow-wows with Obama; Landrieu, Schumer, Daschle behind the scenes

Behind the scenes? I thought it was going to be at a big table, televised on CSPAN.

Cash for Cloture is catchy, I call it corruption.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

 

• What’s next for Healthcare
• Contact Your Senators. NO HARRYCARE
• Pelosicare Part Deux
• Cost of Healthcare Reform
• Sleazy politics: it’s worse than watching sausage-making