The Lords of Entitlement — Wall Street Journal
Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied policy logic and public opinion late Saturday night, ramming through the House a nearly 2,000-page health-care leviathan that counts as the biggest expansion of the federal government since the New Deal. As President Obama likes to say, this was a “teachable moment” about our current government.
The vote was 220 to 215, with 39 House Democrats joining all but one Republican in opposition. Mrs. Pelosi had to cajole and bribe her way to the magic 218, and the list of her promises must be stacked to the ceiling.
The lone Republican, Joseph Cao, represents a Democratic-leaning Louisiana district and extracted a promise that Mr. Obama would increase Medicaid payments to his state, and even then he only voted after Democrats had already hit 218. Let no one suggest this was the “bipartisan” health reform that Mr. Obama has long promised.
Related Posts:
- ATR — Senate Budget Staff: House Dems’ Fully Implemented Health Bill to Cost $3 Trillion
- Analysis: Chris Cillizza tries way too hard, misses with his pro-Democrat angle on Tuesday’s Pennsylvania race
- Chris Chocola in Forbes — How The GOP Can Win The Midterm Elections
- Pelosi: There will be public option in House health care bill
- Jay Cost: No, This Isn’t an “Anti-Incumbent” Year
