HEALTH CARE: Senator’s vote bought and paid for
TIM FIKSE; Tacoma
Re: “Just the Senate vote on health care cost millions” (TNT, 11-22).
Is anybody out there besides me troubled by the sordid vote-buying going on in the U.S. Senate over the health care bill? Is anyone else outraged that Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana took Majority Leader Reid’s offer of $300 million for the 60th cloture vote on Saturday?
It’s one thing in the Senate sausage factory for party leaders to amend bills to get the votes of reluctant members. It’s also not unusual for projects that promote the general welfare or the national interest to be put in particular places for partisan reasons. But adding $300 million to our deficit in order to provide a multimillion-dollar Medicaid bonus to the constituents of one U.S. senator reaches a new low.
Providing improved health care access to all Americans is a worthy goal. I predict that the greatest impact of this bill, however, will be to put a greater and greater portion of the people’s resources in the hands of people who will misuse them like Reid has done.
