Health Care Stench

The stench from Health Care bribes and favors offered to move Obamacare nearer to becoming the law of our land is wafting across America. Three particularly putrid elements involve Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Roland Burris, and Senator Harry Reid. Hold your noses – these stink!

The Dodd rot:

Health Bill Money For Hospital Sought By Dodd

The Associated Press – Sunday, December 20, 2009

 A $100 million item for construction of a university hospital was inserted in the Senate health care bill at the request of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election campaign, his office said Sunday night.

The provision is included in a 383-page series of changes to the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., outlined Saturday. Scattered throughout are numerous items sought by individual lawmakers, many of them directing money explicitly to programs or projects in their home states.

The one sought by Dodd provides $100 million for “a health care facility that provides research, inpatient tertiary care, or outpatient clinical services.” It must be affiliated with an academic health center at a public research university in the United States “that contains a State’s sole public academic medical and dental school.”

 Read more here.

Fumes from Burris:

ACORN Qualifies for Funding in Senate Health Care Bill

TheWeeklyStandard.com
By John McCormack
Monday, December 21, 2009

Senator Roland Burris is claiming credit for a provision in Harry Reid’s “manager’s amendment,” unveiled Saturday morning, that could funnel money to ACORN through the health care bill.

The provision he cites, found on pages 240 through 248 of the manager’s amendment, requires that six different agencies each establish an “Office of Minority Health.” The agencies are the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.”

According to a Senate legislative aide, the scandal-plagued Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now could qualify for grants under this provision. ACORN would also qualify for funding on page 150 of the underlying Reid bill, which says that “community and consumer-focused nonprofit groups” may receive grants to “conduct public education activities to raise awareness of the availability of qualified health plans.”

Earlier this year, Congress passed and the president signed into law a ban on federal funding for ACORN, but a judge ruled that that law was unconstitutional. If a higher court reverses that ruling, ACORN may be prohibited from receiving funds through the Office of Minority Health earmark. But according to the Senate legislative aide, ACORN would still “absolutely” qualify for federal funding through the provision in the underlying Reid bill because the anti-ACORN appropriations amendment would not apply to funds provided through the health care exchanges.

Read more here.

Reek from Reid:

Reid Bill Says Future Congresses Cannot Repeal Parts of Reid Bill

TheWeeklyStandard.com weblog     
By John McCormack
Monday, December 21, 2009

Senator Jim DeMint pointed out some rather astounding language in the Senate health care bill during floor remarks tonight. First, he noted that there are a number of changes to Senate rules in the bill–and it’s supposed to take a 2/3 vote to change the rules. And then he pointed out that the Reid bill declares on page 1020 that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board cannot be repealed by future Congresses:

“There’s one provision that I found particularly troubling and it’s under Section C, titled ‘Limitations on Changes to this Subsection.’

And I quote — “It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” This is not legislation. It’s not law. This is a rule change. It’s a pretty big deal. We will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law.

I’m not even sure that it’s constitutional, but if it is, it most certainly is a senate rule. I don’t see why the majority party wouldn’t put this in every bill. If you like your law, you most certainly would want it to have force for future senates.

I mean, we want to bind future congresses. This goes to the fundamental purpose of senate rules – to prevent a tyrannical majority from trampling the rights of the minority or of future congresses.

Emphasis added by editor.

Read more here.

Video: DeMint Challenges Democrat Harry Reid

The confiscation of taxpayer money to revarnish tainted politicians, the obfuscation to guarantee ACORN not only survives – but thrives, and the utter gall to sneak laws into legislation that intend to make those very laws irreversible is evidence of how deep the decay in our democracy is. Who knows what else will seep out this malodorous bill?

Capitol Hill has become a dung heap of corruption. All the air freshener in the world can’t clear the air in Washington. It’s time to disinfect.

Kill the bill! Go here to sign the petition TODAY.