Thank you Senator Johanns!

UPDATE: When asked about the issue by Nebraska Public Radio, Sen. Nelson refused to respond. The story may be found here. Instead, through a spokesperson, Washington Ben described the cloture vote as only a "procedural" vote. Nebraskans can expect the same duplicitous answer when it comes to his votes on card check, cap-and-trade, and government takeover of health care.



Every Nebraskan--especially our children and grandchildren--should thank U.S. Senator Mike Johanns for voting against cloture today on S. 1776--the so called "Doc Fix" bill. The legislation is nothing more than a gimmick that would permit the Democrats to move forward on their government takeover of health care while adding $247 billion to the federal budget deficit without any plan to pay for it.



Recall that President Obama promised that his health care legislation would be fully paid for, but would also protect doctors from annual cuts to their Medicare reimbursement rates. To accomplish this, the Democrats came up with a sleight-of-hand, i.e., leave it out of the health care bill and ramrod it through as a budget bill and merely add it to the national debt that our children and grandchildren will be forced to pay. The Wall St. Journal summed up the Democrats legerdemain quite nicely in a recent editorial found here.

That's how Democrats solve problems in Washington, DC.

Thankfully, the good guys won this vote. The cloture motion failed by a vote of 47-53. All Republicans voted in opposition along with 13 reasonable Democrats.

Senator Johanns' post-vote comments were right on point:

“A vote for this legislation was an end-run around fiscal responsibility since it would add another quarter trillion dollars to our record $11.9-trillion debt in order to pretend health care reform costs less. A concerned bipartisan opposition prevented this from passing. I support finding a solution to physician reimbursement rates to ensure patients have access to quality care. However, it has to be paid for in a responsible manner, not passed on to our children and grandchildren.”

And where was Senator Ben Nelson on this critical vote?

Washington Ben Nelson voted IN FAVOR OF THE CLOTURE MOTION. Clearly he supports the use of Harry Reid's legislative gimmicks and adding $247 billion to our already obscene federal budget deficit.

Given the chance to stand with Nebraskans, Ben Nelson chose instead to stand with Washington Democrats. Sadly, the 2012 election is still 3 years away.