Nelson: We should have waited on health care
Chris Zavadil
Fremont Tribune
January 6, 2010
Sen. Ben Nelson said Tuesday it was a mistake for the Obama Administration to take on massive health care reforms in 2009, and suggested efforts would have been better spent addressing the economy.
Nelson, who provided the crucial 60th vote to advance the bill toward Senate passage on Dec. 19, has been active ever since trying to explain his actions to Nebraskans. Ads have aired on television and Nelson is making the rounds with the state’s media.
He requested Tuesday’s interview with the Tribune…
…“I would have preferred not to be dealing with health care in the midst of everything else, and I think working on the economy would have been a wiser move,” he said.
Nelson also said the legislation wasn’t as rushed as people might think, having been in the works for almost a year. But he explained that setting deadlines is often what prompts governments to action.
“One thing I’ve found in Congress is that if there is no urgency, things don’t get done. Leadership always has an urgency,” he said. “Deadlines and crises are the very nature of how legislation passes.
“In this case, it was so public for so long, with all the anger and all the town hall meetings and all the coverage that this kept getting, that’s why I think everybody’s felt rushed, because they set a number of different deadlines and didn’t meet them. I think it was unwise in retrospect,” he said…
…Nelson said the two keys to securing his vote to advance the bill were eliminating the so called public option and not allowing federal funds to pay for abortions. He called those provisions “deal breakers,” and believes he accomplished them.
The Senate bill “supports the private market 100 percent,” Nelson said. “There is no federal government insurance involved in this whatsoever.”…
Read the complete article at the Fremont Tribune.
