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Driving A Hard Bargain: Nelson Says He Would've Opposed His Own Abortion Language

Brian Beutler | January 27, 2010, 1:52PM

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Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

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Abortion, Bart Stupak, Ben Nelson, Democrats, Filibuster, Health Care, House of Representatives, Senate

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For any legislator who wants to learn how to drive a bargain, check out this stunning interview Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) conducted with Life Site News.

Now that the Democrats have only 59 votes--insufficient to overcome a filibuster--Nelson is providing an inside look at his legislative strategy. And it's...remarkable. Nelson famously insisted that, to get his vote, Senate health care legislation would have to include restrictions on abortion financing. Now, however, he says his plan all along was to pull a bait and switch: Wait until the House and Senate met to merge their two bills and then push for yet tougher language.

"[O]nce it went to conference, as part of the conference, there was still another 60 vote threshold, and that is when I would have insisted... for my last 60th vote, it has to have [Stupak-like language]," Nelson said.

(The House's health care bill includes language, authored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), that would prevent anyone receiving federal insurance subsidies from buying comprehensive policies that cover abortion.)

When the House and Senate have passed two versions of legislation, negotiators from both chambers come together to iron out the differences. The resulting, final legislation can still be filibustered, though, and when that happens, Senate rules say the package must attract 60 votes. That threat, Nelson says, is what would have given him the power to insist on tougher abortion restrictions.

"There were a whole bunch of people who didn't like the Nelson language - they only went along with because I could be the 60th vote," Nelson said. "Leverage increases, exponentially, like the difference between a number 2 earthquake, 3 earthquake, 4 earthquake - goes up exponentially like that - your leverage goes like that at the very end."

Nelson isn't completely sure his gambit would have paid off, though. And he admits that, if he'd failed, he would have relented.

"I thought my language was good enough if we all failed - I still do," Nelson said. But the trick is not to let on. "I could have but I was going to say - and this was all the plan - that I would insist that it be" Stupak.

Comments (63) | Join the Conversation!

Recommend Recommend (1)

January 27, 2010 2:03 PM

This is why it's best that the Senate won't get another chance to vote on the whole bill.

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January 27, 2010 2:24 PM in reply to FreeRider

Amen!!!

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January 27, 2010 2:06 PM

And this is when I insist that any reconciliation process include a repeal of anything Nelson got for his constits

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January 27, 2010 2:18 PM in reply to davcbr

Speaking as a Nelson constit, I agree.

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January 27, 2010 2:07 PM

Dirtbag.

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GermanyOrFlorida

January 27, 2010 2:07 PM

He was planning on holding the bill hostage again? Were his approval ratings not low enough already?

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Zell

January 27, 2010 2:07 PM

Christ almighty. Just deny his re-election campaign funds and let a Republican win his seat, already. At least we know where they stand -- they're not pussies about letting people know that they stand on the side of evil -- and having sixty seats is apparently worthless anyway, so I'd rather a Republican than a fucking fifth columnist.

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January 27, 2010 2:07 PM

If he is ready to bate&switch, then it CAN BE PULLED ON HIM.

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January 27, 2010 2:08 PM in reply to davcbr

bait???

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January 27, 2010 2:08 PM

Nelson is irrelevant now. The only way forward is to do a reconciliation sidecar to fix the bill and that only requires 50 votes.

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January 27, 2010 2:11 PM

Nelson's running scared. Had to believe the health care bill was built by folks like this...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

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January 27, 2010 2:14 PM

Wars are still being fought over women's bodies. Frankly, I don't think Nelson cares all the much for women and babies - he just has to keep finding excuses to stop reform because his corporate masters demand it.

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January 27, 2010 2:14 PM

So, somebody explain to me again why Nelson is a Democrat. The party's most important piece of legislative business in 2009 and this party "loyalist" sees fit to torpedo it to suck up to the American Taliban fringe.

What "two party" system? There are the Republicans and then there are SemiRepublicans.

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cambridgeMR

January 27, 2010 2:16 PM

Every member of the Democrat caucus is the 60th vote. Nelson is assuming that no other member of the caucus would defect.

Given the odiousness of the Stupak amendment, it's a safe bet that a pro-choice senator would vote against Nelson's preferred package.

It's charming that Nelson is publicly saying to his Caucus: "Look at me, I have your balls in a vise." This guy is the Manny Ramirez of the Senate: a selfish SOB who doesn't give a s--- about his team and will throw childish fits right when they need him the most.

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January 27, 2010 2:22 PM in reply to cambridgeMR

Well, at least Manny would deliver for the team from time to time. The only grand slam I saw live in a major league ball park was when Manny crushed one against the Orioles in 2004 in Fenway. It was a thing of beauty.

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cambridgeMR

January 27, 2010 2:28 PM in reply to Schmed

You are right. Manny is one of the greatest hitters of all time.

Nelson is just another senator with a bad haircut.

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January 27, 2010 3:04 PM in reply to cambridgeMR

That's a haircut?! I thought it was a stuffed badger toupé.

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January 27, 2010 2:19 PM

After the Nebraska Medicaid fiasco has made this guy famous and universally reviled, I'm not sure he can count on having this leverage again. Truly one of the biggest douchebags ever.

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January 27, 2010 2:23 PM in reply to Economides

TurboDoucheBag.

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January 27, 2010 5:00 PM in reply to Schmed

Badger Turbo Douchbag

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rbe1

January 27, 2010 2:21 PM

Hey Ben, go screw yourself, you worthless piece of crap.

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January 27, 2010 2:22 PM

This is the best clue yet that the Senate bill with a reconciliation sidecar will be passed.

Nelson thinks it will so he's already covering his ass with the anti-abortion crowd.

What a shithead. But good news, I think.

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January 27, 2010 3:02 PM in reply to converse

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you may be on to something there. I hope to God you are, anyway.

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ben_nelsons_hair

January 27, 2010 2:23 PM

God he is ugly.

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January 27, 2010 2:26 PM in reply to ben_nelsons_hair

Co-sign

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cambridgeMR

January 27, 2010 2:32 PM in reply to ben_nelsons_hair

Why do senators have such terrible haircuts? Is it the capitol hill barber?

The stylist(s) responsible should be sued for malpractice. But it looks like they're all seeing the same guy.

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January 27, 2010 3:04 PM in reply to cambridgeMR

Not haircut. Toupee. I have yet to see a good toupee.

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ben_nelsons_hair

January 27, 2010 3:33 PM in reply to FreeRider

I agree!

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January 27, 2010 3:01 PM in reply to ben_nelsons_hair

who all the klansmen & women in the gop/conservative right wing party

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January 27, 2010 4:49 PM in reply to ben_nelsons_hair

Can we start referring to him as "The Dog-faced Senator"?

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Progressive Party

January 27, 2010 2:23 PM

Obama has to deal with punk ass with the boldness of striking him down for good or the base and the independents will see for sure that Obama's bark is far than his bite. Obama will fail to fight for what is the right thing to do. The time is now and word is bold! after he is done w/ nelson, let the others come forward (Bayh, LIEberman, Lincoln, etc) and learn the hard lesson of disloyalty and coruption. Maybe he will do nothing....

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January 27, 2010 2:25 PM in reply to Progressive Party

Obama vs. Nelson? See Obama vs. Lieberman, DEC08

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January 27, 2010 3:51 PM in reply to Schmed

who is prez?????????

Liberman is a turncoat

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January 27, 2010 3:54 PM in reply to dem4life

So, what kind of smackdown did Obama give him?

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January 27, 2010 2:26 PM

So needy this guy is. "I need attention! I want to remain relevant! I want to feel powerful! Wahhhh!"

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January 27, 2010 2:27 PM

so why is this guy a democrat? seriously? he doesn't seem to believe in the party's platform, and he's always looking to undermine the party's goals...why doesn't he just join the republicans and make it official?

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January 27, 2010 2:27 PM

http://www.slate.com/id/2242569/

# Win the negotiations he enters. He has seemed too desperate for a deal. The result has been that all principles were up for auction. Whenever big pharma, bankers, trade unions, or Senator Ben Nelson showed up at the White House, everybody went home with a prize except the average citizen. The president must learn to walk away from the table and let the other side sweat. # Impose real party discipline. Although this may be harder now, it is critical. Too many special-interest groups within the party are holding the president hostage, preventing any clarity in defining the agenda. Unity begins and ends with firm leadership. Wasn't this supposed to be Rahm Emanuel's expertise?

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January 27, 2010 2:37 PM

Integrity.....

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SandThroughTheEyeGlass

January 27, 2010 2:41 PM

Yep... Ben Nelson sealed the deal to screw women either way -- with the help of many pro-choice democrats, because unless someone can tell me otherwise 'the budget reconciliation process does not lend itself to altering abortion language reform, because that wouldn’t have a direct, substantial impact on the budget?

http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00369#top

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January 27, 2010 2:42 PM

Judging from the way the Democratic congressional leadership and -- alas, alas -- the Obama White House have been behaving lately, you might easily conclude that our national political spectrum runs the gamut from Rush Limbaugh and Jim DeMint to Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman.
I seem to recall MILLIONS of people who voted in November 2008 for a progressive agenda. Yet Guantanamo remains open. A bailed-out Wall Street is paying record bonuses, and thumbing its nose at regulation. Banks still aren't lending despite massive infusions of taxpayer money. Congress has labored mightily to produce a health care bill that, while better than nothing, is a mere shadow of what it could and should have been -- and now we're not even going to get that. And to top it all off, the White House response to these failures and inactions is to propose a symbolic freeze in discretionary sending.
Right now, all the talk among pollsters is about how "fired up! . . . ready to go!" the tea-baggers and wingnuts are -- and how disaffected and disheartened Democratic voters have become.
Gee, I wonder why?
I haven't quite yet spoken aloud the words "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" -- but under my breath, I'm already humming the tune to "Won't Get Fooled Again"

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January 27, 2010 2:58 PM in reply to tchampmass

I've been humming that for weeks. Last week's tag was "Cue the Who."

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January 27, 2010 3:00 PM in reply to Schmed

Department of Defense and Strategic Studies
Missouri State University 9302 Lee Hwy Suite 760
Fairfax, Virginia 22031

Telephone: (703) 218-3565
Fax: (703) 218-3568
Email: dss1@missouristate.edu

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January 27, 2010 3:17 PM in reply to dem4life

?

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agio

January 27, 2010 4:26 PM in reply to Schmed

So THAT's what you were referring to all this time.

I was trying to figure out what "Momma's got a squeezebox" has to do with the health care bill.

;b

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January 27, 2010 2:45 PM

Now that the Senate has passed it's bill,lost the 60 th vote and Nelson said he opposes reconciliation,what Nelson says from now on is irrelevant and untrustworthy.

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January 27, 2010 2:51 PM

Irrelevant gibberish from an irrelevant and soon to be ex-Senator from Nebraska.

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Walter Mitty

January 27, 2010 2:51 PM

Snowe is partially to blame. She could have realized that "Hey Nelson is going to vote for this thing if he restricts choice, and the dems seem to be relenting, maybe I could offer my vote if they ignore Nelson's deal making".

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January 27, 2010 3:01 PM in reply to Walter Mitty

Snowe's to blame for a TurboDoucheBag realizing his goals? That's like saying that Snowe's responsible for allowing Nelson to live by not sucking all of the air out of the room when he starts negotiating.

Don't let the TurboDouche off the hook.

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January 27, 2010 3:15 PM

What a filthy piece of shit he is.

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LarsThorwald

January 27, 2010 3:39 PM

Well, I'd call him an epic cock, but he is merely exercising that power that is his to have thanks to the expansion of the filibuster since the late 1980s. Thanks, Framers and parliamentarians and assorted gobblers from days past!

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January 27, 2010 3:41 PM

Just goes to show, the dangers of the senate 60 vote super majority and the filibuster. Not to mention, the lack of integrity to the American people.

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January 27, 2010 3:47 PM

Thank g-d, he is irrelevant. The man could have cost hundreds of lives. Now just pass the damn bill and keep him out of the way.

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January 27, 2010 3:50 PM

slimball

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NotFooledByDistractions

January 27, 2010 3:51 PM

Geez, Nelson is a piece of shit.

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eratosthenes8

January 27, 2010 3:53 PM

What the hell is wrong with Nelson?

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Pete Bilderback

January 27, 2010 3:54 PM

Just imagine what Joe Lieberman was planning on doing in order for leadership to secure his 60th vote. The Senate is a broken institution.

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January 27, 2010 4:01 PM

I'm sorry but I just don't see the point of supporting the Democratic Party any further. Republicans always lead us in the wrong direction but Democrats don't even WANT to lead. I think the present two-party structure is hopeless.

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ohyeathatsright

January 27, 2010 4:19 PM

"I am my own worst enemy"

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agio

January 27, 2010 4:28 PM

Nelson = douchenozzle.

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al24

January 27, 2010 4:31 PM

Just a dumber version of Lieberman.

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January 27, 2010 4:52 PM in reply to al24

And uglier! Well, maybe not, on second thought.

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January 27, 2010 7:51 PM

What an assclown. Douchenozzle. Asshat. Jerkweed. I got more.

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DP1

January 27, 2010 8:44 PM

Effing Asshole!!!!

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