Further Changes To S. Con. Res. 13 Pursuant

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHANNS. If I may jump in here, probably like every Senator here, I read the newspapers back home every morning as I start my day. There was an editorial in the Lincoln Journal Star on December 21 that speaks to this issue of special deals. I thought it was excellent. The Lincoln Journal Star has covered me for a long time. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I do not. Sometimes they agree with me, sometimes they do not. But I have always respected the work they do.

Here is what they said in their editorial:

Since when has Nebraska become synonymous for cynical ``what's in it for me''-type politics?

The term ``Cornhusker kickback'' is already a favorite of television's talking heads.

They go on to say:

That's how the rest of the country sees [this] deal.

The editorial continues:

Under its provisions, the federal government would pay all additional Medicaid costs for Nebraska ``in perpetuity.'' The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the deal may be worth $100 million over 10 years.

They go on to say I think in very powerful language:

The deal is the embodiment of what is wrong in Washington.

Instead of thoughtful, careful work on real problems, Washington lawmakers cobble together special deals, dubious financial accounting and experimentation on a grandiose scale.

They devote a paragraph to the many special deals cut, and the Senator's chart illustrates one.

Mr. McCAIN. If the Senator will----

Mr. JOHANNS. If I may finish, I say to Senator McCain, and then you can ask me.

They say this:

It's time to push the reset button on health care reform.

The effort has gone awry.

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Mr. JOHANNS. It doesn't go over. It just simply doesn't. In every way possible, over the last 4 or 5 days, I have been asked: Do you support this special deal for Nebraska? I don't. I think it is wrong.

I could read through all the special deals because we have all got the list--it is Florida, Louisiana, and Montana, and on and on and on. But I came to the floor this morning and I asked unanimous consent that all the special deals be taken out, and I listed a long list of them. Of course, there was an objection to that request for unanimous consent. Why? Why would we want to try to pass legislation with all of this? It makes no sense to me.

But let me take a step back. We all remember a few months ago there was a big story that Nevada was going to get a special Medicaid deal. It was right about that time that we took a few days off. I went back home, and I did townhall meetings, as I have done for years and years and years. But we really invested time and effort, and we identified six principles of health care which are on my Web site for people to look at. I literally had a PowerPoint presentation. I did four townhall meetings--Carnie, Grand Island, Lexington, and Lincoln. I put up these principles.

One of the principles was no carve-out. No backroom deals. No special deals. I presented that to the people who were at those townhall meetings. I did tons of interviews. I explained why I felt the way I did. People were so irate at the possibility that Nevada was going to get this special deal.

Since then, I think that has fallen by the wayside, but all these other things have come along. That is why I read the Lincoln Journal Star editorial. This is an editorial page that sometimes likes what I am doing and sometimes it does not. Over the years, they have not hesitated to take me to task. They looked at this and they said:

Since when has Nebraska become synonymous for cynical ``what's in it for me''-type politics?

They said it is time to hit the reset button. We are not getting this right at all. We simply aren't getting it right. They talked about the issues of cost containment, they talked about the Actuary's report, which I had spent a little time talking to them about, and other folks around the State. After looking at all of that, they just said: Look, this isn't going the way it needs to go for the American people.

Here is what I would say to all of my colleagues in the Senate. I love my State. I love the people there. They are such honest, decent people. In many parts of our State, people believe you seal a contract not by putting things in writing but by shaking hands and giving your word. They don't want this kind of attention. They don't want to be on the evening news every night with the talking heads talking about the ``cornhusker kickback'' or whatever the latest terminology is. They just want to be treated fairly.

They asked me to come here and represent them as fervently as I can, to try to do all I can to get fair treatment for them. But not a single person at any townhall I have ever had stood up and said: Mike, I disagree with that principle. I want you to go back there and give me a special deal or get our State a special deal.

So I appreciate Senator McCain asking me the question. I feel very strongly about this. I wish the other side would consider my request for a unanimous consent agreement that just says: Time out, everybody. Let's pull out the special deals, whether it is Nebraska or Montana or whatever. It doesn't matter to me. Let's pull those out and let's take a step back and let's work for what Senator Risch talks about and the rest of us have talked about. We can get 80 votes on a health care reform bill. I guarantee you. But not on this bill.

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