Obama lies about his role in the Cornhusker Kickback

The president went on Fox News yesterday for a rare interview with a network his former communications director once described as not practicing news. Obama's interviewer was Bret Baier, who asked tenaciously about the special deals and procedural tricks that have been used to push ObamaCare through Congress. This is perhaps the first time Obama has ever been directly asked about the procedural details of the bill.

At one point, Baier pressed the president on the Cornhusker Kickback, the infamous deal that would have paid off Nebraska's Medicaid bills indefinitely and forever. The deal was struck to persuade Sen. Ben Nelson to vote for ObamaCare despite his hang-ups about abortion. Regarding the Cornhusker Kickback, Obama declared, "I have said that there's certain provisions, like this Nebraska one, that don't make sense and that needed to be out. And we have removed those."

This is simply untrue. The White House was almost certainly the architect of the Cornhusker Kickback. After Nelson announced his concerns over the abortion language in the bill, Obama began persistently meeting with the Nebraska senator at the White House. Nelson had a number of private one-on-one sessions with the president, with whom he was close friends. It was after these meetings that the Cornhusker Kickback was announced and Nelson switched from a no to yes vote. Of course, the idea could have been proposed by Harry Reid or another Senate Democrat, but it was certainly inserted in the bill with Obama's blessing. Obama's claim that he was above all this dealmaking is false. This is his Chicago politics.

The Cornhusker Kickback was never actually removed from the Senate bill, as the president claimed. The president toyed around with the idea of paying off all the states' Medicaid bills, but only after Nelson's deal became so politically toxic that even Nelson came out against it. The reconciliation sidecar does away with the Cornhusker Kickback, but only after the deal was conveniently used to bribe Nelson to help break the filibuster.

Baier's full interview with the president was riveting and contentious. Here's the video:

Obama: Actually I'm okay with all those Senate deals

The White House flip-flopped today on its insistence that special deals used to bribe senators into supporting ObamaCare be removed.

Taking a new position, Axelrod said the White House only objects to state-specific arrangements, such as an increase in Medicaid funding for Nebraska, ridiculed as the "Cornhusker Kickback." That's being cut, but provisions that could affect more than one state are OK, Axelrod said.

That means deals sought by senators from Montana and Connecticut would be fine — even though Gibbs last week singled them out as items Obama wanted removed. There was resistance, however, from two committee chairman, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and the White House has apparently backed down.

As long as more than one state is somehow touched by a proposed deal, the White House greenlights it. In other words, if Nebraska rewrites the Cornhusker Kickback so that one dollar of its Medicaid funds from the feds are donated to Iowa, it's presumably okay.

Since Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi furiously cut deals left and right to squeak ObamaCare through, the president's new position allows for a whole host of kickbacks. Here's the rundown of special deals that are or probably will be in the health care reform package.

-- Connecticut hospitals. Even though Chris Dodd was always a surefire vote for ObamaCare, he still secured $100 million in the bill for Connecticut hospitals. He's particularly enthusiastic about the University of Connecticut, whose teaching hospital he wants revamped. Technically other states can compete for some of the grant money, so Connecticut isn't the sole state affected.

-- Montana asbestos victims. Max Baucus secured another kickback in ObamaCare for victims of asbestos poisoning from a vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. In order to avoid some of the negative attention that plagued Ben Nelson's Cornhusker Kickback, Baucus cleverly wrote the language as expanding Medicare to cover "environmental health hazards." That can technically apply to all states, so it stays in.

-- Western hospitals. Connecticut isn't the only state whose hospitals will be larded up with health care money. A provision in ObamaCare increases Medicaid funding for states with 50% or more "frontier counties" -- defined as a county with a population density less than six people per square mile. The Congressional Budget Office said this would include Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. Three of the five are western swing states that Democrats are hoping will lean blue in future elections.

-- Student loans. House Democrats are moving to include a package in ObamaCare that would nationalize student loans. The House already passed the overhaul with 32 more supportive Democrats than ObamaCare. Nancy Pelosi is hoping that tying the two bills together will sweeten the pot for Democrats currently on the fence.

-- Black and Hispanic colleges. Included in the student lending bill is a kickback that would fund historically black and Hispanic colleges and universities. The provision, according to The Hill newspaper, is untouchable thanks to strong support from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The CBC has expressed concern about ObamaCare diverting attention from creating jobs and the CHC is worried about restrictions for illegal immigrants in the bill.

With his announcement today, Obama finally woke up to reality: The only way he can ram his health care boondoggle through is if he buys off legislators. Note that all the deals in the bill are just to woo Democrats.

Did this man just kill ObamaCare?

It's always hard to tell given how dense and arcane congressional procedure is, but right now it looks like ObamaCare is officially dead.

The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.

The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said.

House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.

The House doesn't have enough votes to pass the Senate bill for a number of reasons. The Senate bill covers abortions, which has pro-life Democrats united behind Bart Stupak pledging to vote no. The Senate bill bars illegal immigrants from health care coverage, which has members of the House Hispanic Caucus threatening no votes as of this morning. The Senate bill doesn't include a public option, which has turned off a few progressives. And most damaging of all, the Senate bill is loaded with special deals for senators like the Cornhusker Kickback that spell political suicide for Blue Dog congressmen from fiscally conservative states.

The House and the Senate need to approve the same bill, since the Senate legislation differs from the House's. The idea was to use what's called a "reconciliation sidecar" -- a package of changes to the Senate bill passed with a simple majority vote -- to make the bill agreeable for House members. The sidecar was written by the White House and would have made several changes, most notably the elimination of the Cornhusker Kickback.

The parliamentarian's ruling means that the House can't pass the sidecar. Both houses must pass the Senate bill and the president must sign it before any changes can be made. Pelosi already doesn't have the votes to do that and is losing more every day.

The Senate parliamentarian's name is Alan Frumin. He was appointed in 2002 after Republicans fired the previous parliamentarian...for forbidding them from using reconciliation on a bill. Barring something completely unforeseen, another Saturday Night Massacre in which Frumin gets shown the door might be Obama's only remaining move.

Obama's Democrats move to pass health care reform unconstitutionally

CongressDaily reports on congressional Democrats' latest scheme to push ObamaCare across the finish line.

House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is prepping to help usher the healthcare overhaul through the House and potentially avoid a direct vote on the Senate overhaul bill, the chairwoman said Tuesday.

Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.

The plan has been appropriately named the "Slaughter Solution" by John Boehner. Different groups of House Democrats are resentful of the Senate bill because it lacks restrictive abortion language and a public option. The Senate bill also contains controversial deals like the Cornhusker Kickback that House Democrats don't want to vote for. The Slaughter Solution would change congressional rules, magically considering the bill passed after the House voted to approve a series of corrections, rather than the actual bill itself.

The Slaughter Solution is also unconstitutional. The Constitution mandates that all revenue bills originate in the House. If Slaughter gets her way, the House will merely amend the current Senate bill, which means that the finalized ObamaCare legislation will have originated in the Senate. Obama's first major piece of legislation would become law unconstitutionally.