Senate's Deal: Compromise or Corruption?

(CBS)  For Senate Democrats, the health care bill is all about the nation's well being.

"It's the right thing to do for America," Sen. Max Baucus said.

And all about righting a national wrong.

"We are called upon to right a great injustice," Sen. Tom Harkin said.

But behind this claim that they're doing this for the good of America, at least seven senators demanded deals worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to mostly benefit their home states, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

It started with Mary Landrieu. When reports surfaced she had been swayed with a $100 million Medicaid deal just for Louisiana, she bragged it was actually $300 million. The deal was so notorious, Republicans gave it a name.

"We have new words in our lexicon, the Louisiana Purchase," Sen. John McCain said.

Hotsheet: Tallying the Health Care Bill's Giveaways

Ben Nelson of Nebraska got the most unusual Medicaid deal. In exchange for his vote, federal taxpayers will now pay for most Medicaid expansion just in Nebraska - forever. McCain named this one too.

"It's the Cornhusker kickback," he said.

And while Democrats have claimed their bill saves big money cutting the extra benefits from Medicare Advantage, the fact is that won't happen in Florida, where Sen. Bill Nelson got his 800,000 seniors an exemption.

The bill also had a mystery grant of $100 million to an unknown health care facility in an unnamed state. It doesn't say Connecticut but Sen. Chris Dodd admitted he wrote it, hoping Connecticut would get it.

Democrats shrugged off questions about the one state deals - saying this is how you get to 60 votes.

"That's what this legislation's all about - it's the art of compromise," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

Republicans called it the art of corruption.

"And it's a shame that that's the only way we can come to consensus in this country is to buy votes," Sen. Tom Coburn said.

But Republicans may forget when they were in charge and pushing the Medicare drug benefit, their Majority Leader Tom Delay was formally admonished for trying to buy a last-minute vote with favors. And Delay's defense was that he didn't know trading favors was against the rules.

"A lot of people watching what happened in the Senate are probably outraged because it really is as if they were literally buying these votes. Is this business as usual?" CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric asked Andrews.

"You know what's interesting is that Democrats weren't even defensive about these deals," Andrews said. "They said all of them related to the needs of needy people. Mary Landrieu, for example, said her state was hit so hard by Katrina that all of her low-income folks needed every bit of that $300 million. Bill Nelson said his seniors were too reliant on Med Advantage. So if you were looking for embarrassment by Democrats, it wasn't there."

"This sure won't hurt when these senators are up for reelection, will it?' Couric asked Andrews.

"No, reelection is the motivator here," Andrews said. "Remember, Republicans want this to be a national scandal with people concerned about special treatment. But senators run in one state and they're going home to say 'here's what i got you.'"

[cleric60]

Let's all remember "that the rich get richer and the poor have babies"
Do you really think that all the tax $$$ will be used to give 'health care" to the uninsured? The bill doesn't go into effect until 2013.
So, by that time we will be told that we have 70 million citizens who are not insured... so the government will take even more $$$ in taxes.

[JayAdlerMusic]

This process of arriving at a health care bill has ben endured by the good American public, a vast majority of which did not want to dwell on this subject when a raging recession shows no sign of abatement and global threats continue to multiply. My father,a long time ago g had a law practice on Park Avenue.I remember him telling me the story of Meyer Lansky and how crafty he was as an accountant and a books cooker. I have worked in politics as well as other vocations since I was a young man. I am not so shocked at the vote buying, which in some scenarios might backfire on the politicians who bit. Actually doing that is regular stuff and happens all the time. The problem with that excuse is that people all across the country are suffering. I do not know how the Democrats managed to wheel barrow that money to politicians who ended up selling out their personal values. I just say that maybe they should have self insured all these uninsured people and paid off some family debts instead of buying votes in this obsessive attempt to get a bill. It is a known maneuver to pay off for votes in the Congress. That does not make it right in the perilous times that we live in.

[dhartm]

Good. Glad the Democratic Senators got deals for their people, and that they support the bill. Republicans, controlled by the conservative right wing in this country, did everything they could, told every lie, to obstruct this bill. They did nothing, and they got nothing. Also good.

[wel51]

Let me ask you something: what if Republicans were under control and voted to give insurance companies more freedoms to charge anything they wanted, and that a variety of Republican senators were given special deals in exchange for their votes, wouldn't you think it a corrupt bargain?

[JayAdler1]

Did you read the 2500 page bill and make comments in the margin. I will bet that many representatives in Congress and all the Internet blogger including myself are picking a pig in a poke or to say it differently, shooting fish in a barrel. How's that for old time aphorisms?

[fishingrp]

Wow! After this open and willful corruption that the demos admit to, it makes me want to get out of this country. Fear for the future of our democracy that our servicemen and women have fought and died for is a real concern. WE HAVE AFRICAN LIONS IN THE ZOO AND WE HAVE A LION AFRICAN IN THE WHITEHOUSE. A promise of transparency, no behind doors, secret negotiations, even televised on CSPAN and published 5 days before passage on the internet. Have all you demos forgot about this horse crap? You've got a crooked Santa in the ***** house along with all of his ***** elves.

[linda63s]

this health care reform bill is a tax increase nightmare full of deals behind closed doors, full of ear marks that we the tax payers are going to get stuck with, George Soros is pulling obama strings then he meows in for the senate and promises them untold financial rewards at our expense. i am not a democrat or a republican i am a citizen of this country and i want the government out of my life, the house the senate the president have screwed u the auto industry, the housing industry is a joke, the banking district is about gone, these goof balls want to tell us what to eat, how to raise how kids, what cars to drive, how to heat and cool our homes, no more merry christmas is allowed, nomore haloween, banned to say happy easter, and heaven forbid say god bless if some one sneezes. but any drunken guttersnipe can say all the 4 letter words they want to in public, no common courtesy, this is due to the liberal and their lust to take over our country, our freedom is being taken away from us, we are becoming a socialist country owned, branded and hog tied by china, george soros and his dancing pimps, so until the public wakes up and drums out of office all these liberals it will only get worst, so to all you voters, you had better get rid of these spending idiots in congress and get some people that listen to us tax payers that pay their salaries, these politicans have got to realize we are their bosses they follow our wants not theirs,

[th9876]

I wish they would calling this "compromise". Compromise insinuates give and take. This bill was one big give. Consumers got nothing in return. Corruption is a good word.

[gboyd41]

I wonder if Max will get a Supreme Court position for his girlfriend?

[Empire-George-]

by lmartink December 22, 2009 12:00 PM EST
This is not news. It's called horse trading. And the GOP under Bush-Cheney did a lot of this sort of stuff. And now they are crying foul......

What a bunch of hypocrite jerks........ Losers, every one of them.
________________

Everytime any corruption surfaces, as in the healthcare bill, Liberal morons, such as yourself, pull out the "Bush/Cheney did lots of this stuff" as an excuse for everything corrup......when all else fails, claim Bush/Cheney did blah, blah......how sick are these Liberal HealthBaggers?

[th9876]

Don't just assume people against this corruption are republicans. This assumption will be the undoing of the democrats in the next few elections.

[Empire-George-]

I don't know, what do you call it when someone pretends he won't vote for a bill, and then awaits his/her million dollar payout, and once payment is received, their core beliefs disappear and they vote party lines (ie: Dodd, Nelson, Landreau)....doesn't sound like "compromise" to me, does it ? it does sound like corruption, no doubt

[sjc_1]

Federal money helps pay for roads and schools in states that can not afford it. This is the way of a true nation where those states that do not have a large and affluent enough tax base can still have roads and schools. Louisiana is not a rich state, much of the natural gas and oil revenue goes to the companies and the citizens are left to fend for themselves. I see nothing wrong with Medicaid and hospitals going to the states that need them. The Florida deal was a bit odd, but that is the nature of politics.