The Louisiana (Vote) Purchase
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) is one of four swing votes in the upcoming Senate deliberations on President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine proposal.
As such, she’s “solid gold real estate” for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – who cannot afford even a single democratic defection if he intends to ram Obamacare through the U.S. Senate the way Speaker Nancy Pelosi narrowly pushed it through the U.S. House.
Reid’s solution?
Well, in addition to pimping fictitious budget and cost estimates related to the bill, he’s flat out bribing her.
On page 432 of the 2,074 page Senate Obamacare bill, there is a provision increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.” Specifically, the subsidies apply only to states which “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”
Hmmm …
This $300 million “mother of all kickbacks” is obviously intended for one state and one state only – Landrieu’s Louisiana.
Landrieu was originally scheduled to announce her position regarding the legislation Thursday, but then held off after news organizations began to report on this controversial provision.
Contrary to the $900 billion figure tossed out by the Congressional Budget Office, Republicans say the legislation will ultimately cost three times that amount.
“To characterize this bill as anything close to fiscal responsibility may be the largest game of bait and switch ever played on the American people,” U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) told reporters in Washington Thursday. “This bill expands the size of government by $2.5 trillion when it’s fully implemented over a 10-year period.”
Landrieu is one of four U.S. Senators who are currently undecided on the legislation. The others are Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas (both Democrats), and Joe Lieberman, an Independent/Democrat from Connecticut.
UPDATE: Guess the bribe worked … (From the LA Times) “After a thorough review of the bill,” (Landrieu) said on the Senate floor, “I have decided there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward but much more work needs to be done.”
Comments
By bo on November 20th, 2009 at 10:42 am
she looks like the piggly wiggly mascot
By RedBank Bar on November 20th, 2009 at 11:17 am
She at least deiivers for her state, unlike DeMint. Where was Bubba Vitter? He must have been “talking” to the hookers at the C Street Ho House…
By Liberty For Me on November 20th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
How is this news?????….It is just the same old corruption we get every damn day.
By Rick on November 20th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Ben Nelson just bent over, won’t take Mary long to fall on her back with her heels in the air, and the same old song is playing in the background…..fuck em’ all, fuck em’ all, the long, the short, and the tall, fuck em’ all…..
Coming time for tar and feathers….
By Dismayed on November 20th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hmm. When it goes one way, CBO budget figures are described as “tossed out” (apparently they made the numbers up on the D.C. Metro that morning.) When it goes the other, the CBO folks are god-like in their reliability.
By Darth on November 20th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
That’s Mary, “my husband’s got the contracts from the Corps of Engineers to maintain the levees” Landrieu? Pays for a lot of votes that are still in the grave, as they were when she was first elected (and acknowleged by the LA election commission, at lease according to the trance channeler).
By OhYesAgain on November 20th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Ha…and Spratt gave his vote away for free? So much for Johnny “bringing home the bacon.”
By Bobby on November 20th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
When CBO was calling the bill expensive over the summer, Republicans thought the CBO was infallible.
By lauren on November 21st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Yes, the God-hating, baby-killing Democrats will carry the day, and all of America will be enslaved to socialism.
By Red Bank Bar on November 21st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
D*mn, Lauren, you caught us… I guess you’ve figured out we used Medicare to train senior citizens as a cadre for socialized medicine. They’ve all been indoctrinating their grandchildren, Lauren. Be very afraid because we’ve got all the kids under 10 on our side too.
Oh, and don’t mess with anyone from a VA Hospital either, Lauren. We used them to create socialistic medicine. They’re all on our side, too, Lauren. They’ve been stockpiling Ak 47s under their beds, Lauren. You’re very perceptive, Lauren, to be paranoid. We are out to get you.
Now, what you need to do is go buy seeds from Glenn Beck, all the duct tape you can cart home, and head for Publix to buy out their bottled water. Buy a short-wave radio and pull out your vcr to watch Mr. Swayze yell WOLVERINE! Practice it, Lauren. Many times. Practicar espanol, tambien, Lauren. Close your curtains and turn off your electricity, Lauren. Sit in the dark and let us know how you’re doing in a couple of weeks.
Call your doctor, too, Lauren. Ask for 20 milligrams of prozac, b.i.d, as
a starter dose. You’ll start feeling better in a couple of weeks. Good luck, Lauren, while we’re enslaving America. Oh, and BTW, keep supoorting Sarah Palin, too, Lauren. She’s helping us out by making the great majority of Americans believe that Republicans really are moronic nut jobs. Thanks again, Lauren, you’re a gem.
By THELOUISIANAEXPLORER on November 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
This isn’t the first purchase. Anyone taking junior high American History knows about that one. It’s not the second one either; and that one makes this so called “Louisiana Purchase” small potatoes. When Richard Leche, a former Huey Long’s associate, was elected Governor of Louisiana in 1937, Franklin Roosevelt knew he had a strong ally in Louisiana, Long had been assassinated and Leche had shown immense loyalty to Roosevelt. In response to this new found loyalty in Louisiana, Federal money flowed into Louisiana and this was referred to in the Washington and other main Presses as the second Louisiana Purchase. It wasn’t until Harvey G. Fields, Federal Prosecutor and former law partner of Huey Long’s, took the preliminary case to the Attorney General in 1939 that the illegal skimming of federal Funds stopped. In the end, Leche and 200 others in Louisiana were indicted; one being the president of LSU. The President of LSU attempted suicide and failed but three others succeeded. Lech went to prison for five years however following Fields death he immediately contacted the family to say he held no hard feelings and felt that Fields was a man of the highest integrity and honor. Fields private political papers were recently found after being lost for 45 years. AI book has just been released about the papers and Fields and is called “I Called Him Grand. The Lost Political Papers of Harvey G. Fields”. Over 100 letters are published and names such as Long, Roosevelt, Farley, Darrow and Leche are found throughout the book.
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