Porked Up and Loving It
The Senate's favor factory has been doing a lot of business.
DECEMBER 22, 2009, 12:32 P.M. ET.
By JOHN FUND
The Senate's health care bill is chock full of favors, payoffs, special deals and exemptions, but Majority Leader Harry Reid is proud of his handiwork, calling it an art form -- "the art of compromise."
"There are 100 senators here, and I don't know that there's a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that isn't important to them," Mr. Reid told reporters. "If they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them."
But some Democratic Senators view such a shameless defense of the bill's pork elements as throwing them under the bus. Some senators obviously are more equal than others: Not all were able or willing to exploit their leverage to extract crass favors for their states.
Take Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who currently trails all of her potential GOP challengers. "What did Blanche Lincoln get for the people of Arkansas in exchange for her vote?" asks state Sen. Gilbert Baker, one of her possible GOP challengers. "Looks like she got them nothing more than unfunded mandates and government-controlled health care." Mrs. Lincoln's office responded by noting that she authored language allowing small businesses to receive tax credits if they provide health coverage.
Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado is also under fire for not pulling his weight on the Reid pork wagon. "Only in Washington would someone be attacked for not negotiating a backroom deal," Senator Bennet said in a floor speech. "Just because others choose to engage in the same tired Washington rituals doesn't mean that I have to."
Fine sentiments, but with his "aye" vote for the bill, Senator Bennet ended up endorsing exactly the sordid process he deplores. And it's his own party's Majority Leader who has decided to cast aspersions on senators who failed to place their orders when the Senate's favor factory was open for business last week.
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