WASHINGTON — Say what you want about me, but leave the beef out of it.
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., was presiding over the Senate chamber while his home-state colleague, Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and other senators engaged in a discussion on the floor. Johanns and the others were criticizing special deals included in the Senate health care bill.
Nelson announced his support for the bill only after striking an agreement that the federal government would cover the cost of the bill’s Medicaid expansion in Nebraska, forever. Other states will have to start covering a portion of the expansion’s cost in 2017.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., cited an editorial critical of the deals that carried the headline: “Louisiana Purchase and Omaha Stakes.”
The reference to local company Omaha Steaks apparently got Nelson’s blood boiling, and he soon took the floor to deliver his own speech.
“I’m disappointed that this would be used, and misused in this fashion, not only derisively against a great company in Nebraska,” Nelson said.
He then said in reference to Johanns: “I’m also surprised that my colleague would participate in a (discussion) that would use the name of that company in such a manner.”
During discussions on the floor Tuesday, Johanns repeatedly criticized the Medicaid deal, saying that Nebraskans don’t want that kind of special treatment.
“They don’t want to be on the evening news every night, the talking heads talking about the ‘Cornhusker kickback’ or whatever it is, the latest terminology,” Johanns said. “They just want to be treated fairly.”
Nelson said on the floor that there is still plenty of time for other states to get the same deal that Nebraska is getting before they’re hit with the extra Medicaid costs.
“My colleague and others know that this is the case ... but they choose to ignore it. They choose to ignore the facts,” Nelson said.
Contact the writer:
202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com
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