Porker of the Month - Sen. Ben Nelson

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) Porker of the Month for delivering the pivotal 60th vote for cloture that allowed the Senate’s healthcare bill to come to the floor for final passage.  Sen. Nelson held out until he was able to parlay his vote to secure, among other perks, a permanent exemption to the Medicaid expansion in the bill for Nebraska.  This “Cornhusker Kickback” will save the state between $59 million and $281 million.  After enduring blistering criticism in the media and a precipitous drop in his job approval rating among home-state voters, the senator then scrambled to send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV.) asking that the provision be removed, followed closely by a claim that the carve-out was always meant as a “placeholder” so that, eventually, all the states could get the federal government to cover their Medicaid costs.  For his Cornhusker Kickback boondoggle, classless congressional CYA behavior, and opening the door to a congressional stampede to try to federalize fully one of the most wasteful government-run healthcare entitlement programs ever conceived, Sen. Ben Nelson wins the dubious title of CAGW’s January Porker of the Month.  [Full Story].

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