Posted on 12/20/2009 3:26:32 PM PST by Desperado67
Back on November 21st, Senator Mary Landrieu provided the 60th vote for the Senate Democrats to cut off a GOP filibuster and start the debate on a healthcare reform bill. In exchange for that vote, the Democratic leadership offered her a $300 million ‘bribe’ in the form of additional Medicaid benefits for her home state of Louisiana and for other states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Now a month later Senator Ben Nelson has announced that he will provide the 60th vote to cut off debate on the healthcare reform bill. In exchange for his vote, the Democratic leadership offered him a provision that would call for the federal government to pay in full all new Medicaid beneficiaries in Nelson’s home state of Nebraska. There is no dollar amount applied to this ‘bribe’ because the terms are infinite and the future numbers of new Medicaid beneficiaries in Nebraska are unknown.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
ping
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except congress.” Mark Twain
The Democrat are mentally ill and need psychiatric Health care.
Sounds interesting
It's WRONG...and they don't care. They have no morals or ethics.
I can’t believe that this bribery is constitutional. Isn’t there anything in the constitution that prohibits this sort of outright vote buying (using tax dollars from other states’ residents to boot)?
I mean, I understand where Congress has the right to spend money in a particular state, say in siting a military base, or a federal prison, or building an interstate highway, etc., but this is different in that it treats RESIDENTS of one state differently than another by effectively taxing them less.
Would it be constitutional, for instance, to set the federal income tax at a higher rate for Wisconsin residents than for Michigan residents? Would it be constitutional to offer Medicare to Illinois residents, but not to Iowa residents? There’s a line here that I believe has been crossed, but I don’t know what it is specifically.
Then again, all of this BS would have been declared unconstitutional by any Supreme Court before 1932 or so.
Harry Reid, like Tiger Woods knows that if you have enough money to throw around you can get a lot of people to bend over. Who knew old Harry swung both ways?
Let’s start counting Harry’s Hos.
Precident????
Do you really believe this has never happened before?
The difference is that we have the internet and people who work hard enough to dig it up and put it on the net.
Until recently, we had only Eric Severide, Dan Rather and the NYT.
How much discussion of this topic and especially a discussion of the ethics involved have you seen on the Obummer, the Marxist now posing as a Fascist, controlled press?
The congress is and has been for many years a criminal enterprise.
It’s what we get for passing the 17th amendment!
She promptly turned around and held a "fundraiser" for the bribe giver!
Hang the lot of em!
When confronted with this, the liberal Democrats simply respond, “That’s the way our political system works.”
Yes, and that is precisely why we should not be letting the political system run our health care system. In the end, health care is going to be distributed based on politics, and that is a human rights violation of epic proportions.
Our health care system does not need reforming. It’s our political system that needs reforming.
I really think they get their rocks off shoving it in our faces that they are special, privileged, and above the law, and what are we gonna do about it? They always get away with it, unless the other side can political hay with the crime (rats are especially vigorous in this—see Packwood vs the moral failures of their own). They seem to get a kick out making it public that they did, they got away with it, and whose gonna stop them? They feel invincible and above powerful. We have a congress full of Leona Helmsleys.
Neither am I but I found this:
Section 9 of the Constitution
--snip--
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
--snip--
It may be a start as it infers equality in regulation of commerce. There are also questions as to the constitutionality of congress having authority to require individuals to purchase a service else penalized.
No doubt, unconstitutional illegal bribes on unconstitutional illegal bills is unconstitutional and illegal.
Should they survive the tar and feathering, I vote they all get second terms... in federal prison this time!
Amen brother!
People keep asking “Isn’t bribery illegal??”, well, actually, it is. Sounds to me like half of Congress could end up in the slammer!!
USC Title 18, Ch 11, Sec 201...
(b) Whoever—
(1) directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official or person who has been selected to be a public official, or offers or promises any public official or any person who has been selected to be a public official to give anything of value to any other person or entity, with intent—
(A) to influence any official act; or
(B) to influence such public official or person who has been selected to be a public official to commit or aid in committing, or collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud, on the United States; or
(C) to induce such public official or such person who has been selected to be a public official to do or omit to do any act in violation of the lawful duty of such official or person;
shall be fined under this title or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than fifteen years, or both, and may be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
This is not a precedent it is business as usual - a time honored tradition.
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