Mary Landrieu was awfully upfront about her $100 million vote in Senate debate Saturday:
"I will correct something. It's not $100 million, it's $300 million, and I'm proud of it and will keep fighting for it," Landrieu told reporters after her floor speech. "But that is not why I started this health care debate; I started this health care debate for all the reasons I just mentioned in my statement" on the floor.
She blamed "very partisan, Republican bloggers" for reporting on that section of the bill, but it was first reported by the well-known, right-wing outlet, ABC. The nerve of any of us to insinuate she could be bought for a measly $100 million.
Landrieu's justification for the extra money for Louisiana is that federal emergency aid surrounding Katrina had incorrectly inflated Louisiana's per-capita income for a short time, thus leading to insufficient Medicaid funds for the state, due to the federal government's calculation based on per-capita income.
She followed up with another odd assertion:
"Our state is still as poor as it was, if not poorer."
Perhaps not the thing to highlight so dramatically, when you're a senator who's been serving for 12 years.
Landrieu said her yes vote Saturday, to proceed to debate on Reid's health-care bill, should not be construed as a vote of support for the bill in its current form.
Sen. Mary Landrieu said that Reid wouldn't have 60 votes unless Democrats agree to weaken the government plan so that it is triggered if private insurers don't reach certain benchmarks.
