More Senators lining up with their hands out on health care payola…

Ah yes… a new trend has begun. Other Senators are figuring out they toed the party line for too easy a price, and there’s at least three that have approached Sen. Ben Nelson… giving him a nod of thanks for his lead for sweetheart deals. Nelson has refused to identify the Senators by name, or by party.

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, after securing a sweetheart deal for his state as part of the health insurance reform bill, said Tuesday that three other senators have told him they want to bargain for the same kind of special treatment.

“Three senators came up to me just now on the (Senate) floor, and said, ‘Now we understand what you did. We’ll be seeking this funding too’,” Nelson said.

~~~

Nelson would not name the three senators he said told him they’re thinking of seeking the same kind of federal aid. He said he expected them to seek the money outside the health care reform process, and he defended their efforts.

“Why should states be forced to pay for a (federal) unfunded mandate?” he said.

Republican senators agree and have blasted Nelson for the apparent payoff.

The thought that crosses my mind… would Nelson be so quick to protect a GOP Senator?

There’s been no dearth of bad press accompanying Sen. Ben Nelson’s special treatment. It’s not only causing him to rethink it’s presence in the O’health care Senate bill – being acutely aware of the overt precedent he’s cultivated to new highs – but he’s now shifting the blame from Reid’s proverbial derriere for those special bennies to the NE Republican Governor, Dave Heineman.

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.

After Nelson sent a letter to the governor offering to kill the Medicaid deal, Heineman acknowledged that he and other governors had “expressed concern” about the state burden for Medicaid patients. But he rejected any suggestion from Nelson that he asked for the kind of deal Reid struck.

“Under no circumstances did I have anything to do with Senator Nelson’s compromise,” the governor said in a written statement. “The responsibility for this special deal lies solely on the shoulders of Senator Ben Nelson.”

He urged Nelson to reconsider his support for the overall health care bill and, in response to the Sunday letter, said his state expects “a fair deal, not a special deal.”

“Governors all across America are troubled by this unfunded Medicaid mandate. If the U.S. Senate plans to address the unfunded mandates issue, all states must receive fair and equal treatment,” he wrote.

Nelson said Tuesday he wants to talk to the governor before making a decision on the Medicaid provision.

Nelson has been steadily backtracking on his payola actions, stating “It’s Not A Special Deal For Nebraska. … There Is No Carve Out” in his floor remarks today. But Reid’s “Manager’s Amendment for the State of Nebraska” tells a different story entirely…

“The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage … With Respect To All Or Any Portion Of A Fiscal Year That Begins On Or After January 1, 2017, For The State Of Nebraska … Shall Be Determined As Provided For Under Subsection (Y)(1)(A).” “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).” (Manager’s Amendment To H.R. 3590, Pg. 98)