Democrats successfully bought off Dem Senator Nelson from Nebraska last night.
Obamacare is now a lock.
The vote will end Senator Nelson’s career. In the state of Nebraska 61% of voters say they will likely not support Nelson if he votes for Obamacare.
The AP reported:
A holdout no more, Sen. Ben Nelson agreed Saturday to provide the 60th and deciding vote for sweeping health care legislation in the Senate, capping a year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
Nelson, D-Neb., said he made his decision after winning fresh concessions to limit the availability of abortions in insurance sold in newly created exchanges, as well as tens of million in federal Medicaid funds for his home state.
“I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree,” he said at a news conference in the Capitol, referring to the abortion issue. “But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions.”
He also noted he had successfully fended off attempts to provide for a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers.
One Democratic official said an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office to be released later Saturday would estimate a deficit savings of more than $130 billion over 10 years, and the possibility of much more in the subsequent decade.
The Weekly Standard Blog reported that Nelson’s agreement allows abortion funding in 13 states.
Jules Crittenden thinks Nelson’s betting that voters have short memories, are easily distracted, and who’s to say he’s wrong?