“The Louisiana Purchase”, and even worse epitaphs. 

That is what some of the media writing and talking heads are calling it. 

One column called Harry Reid and President Obama pimps and Senator Mary Landrieu, a prostitute. 

For a moment, let us take a deep breath and realized what occurred on Saturday and the days before the health care vote. 

Yes, Mary Landrieu was able to insert language in the Senate health care bill that allowed for a 300-million benefit to the state which would have meant that Louisiana would not be hooked for unfair Medicaid expenditures due to Katrina and Rita.  The 300-million would fill a gaping hole in the state’s budget for a state that is already poor and which is looking at a budget shortfall of one billion dollars for next year and if it had not been for the stimulus, Louisiana and Governor Jindal would be approximately two billion dollars in the shorts--this upcoming year. 

So, it was not just Senator Mary Landrieu who wanted this gap to be filled.   

According to Senator Landrieu, “It is the No. 1 request of my Governor who is a Republican. He explicitly asked that I pursue these funds. It is unanimously supported by every Member of our delegation, Democratic and Republican. I am proud to have asked for it. I am proud to have fought for it. I will continue to. But that is not the reason I am moving to debate.” 

Last week, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, Alan Levine, was quoted by the Times Picayune to say, “"Look,'' said Levine, who has been lobbying the administration and Congress on the FMAP issue for eight months, "it's good to have a senator in a position to be able to make demands like that.''

"While I don't support the bill, she is doing the best she can to help the state, and she should be applauded,'' he said. 

So, what seems to be occurring is Mary Landrieu is getting the “hit”, but others who knew she was attempting to insert that language into the legislation are not men enough to stand up and say that they approved of putting that language into the bill.  This Medicaid issue had been discussed among members of the Louisiana delegation and within the Jindal administration for almost a year.   

This is the only legislation that this insertion would even be germane.  Do you really think that our other state delegation members were surprised that she was attempting to include that type of language into this type of legislation?  If they were surprised, then, they should tell us specifically what efforts have they made with the help of Governor Jindal that would take care of a major problem that the Louisiana Governor and the Department of Health and Hospitals have made top priority?  Being supportive of an effort by Senator Landrieu to help Governor Jindal deal with the Medicaid crises and not owning up to those efforts or not explaining what they have done to fix the Medicaid shortfall situation while seeing one member of the Louisiana delegation get the blame on this single issue is the epitome of spinelessness.      

Thus, Governor Bobby Jindal and each member of the entire delegation should rise up and be counted to say if they favored the language to reduce the budget or if they didn’t favor the language each person should account for what they have tried to do to take care of this major Administrative objective.  Anything less would be totally and substantially political cowardice and ill-fitting for a member of the Louisiana Administration or the Louisiana delegation.   If they remain mute, the real “Louisiana Purchase” would be our leader’s selling out of their courage for their own political cover. 

Then, there is the assumption that Mary Landrieu allowed the health care bill to pass.  No, what she and 59 other Senators did was allow the Senate version of the health care bill to go forward for debate rather than die on the vine.

It is predictable to accuse Senator Landrieu as if she were the only vote in favor of the bill.  This is partisan journalism and politics at its worse.

Instead, what Senator Landrieu said on Saturday--hours before her vote was the following:

“My vote should in no way be construed by the supporters of this current framework as an indication of how I might vote on the final bill. My vote is a vote to move forward, to continue the good and essential and important and imperative work that is underway. 

“After a thorough review of the bill, as I said, over the last 2 1/2 days, which included many lengthy discussions, I have decided that there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but much more work needs to be done before I can support this effort. 

“Spirited debate and good-faith negotiations in this Senate have produced a bill that contains some amazing and cutting-edge reforms that will, I am hopeful, reduce costs for families and small businesses while reducing the debt burden of the Federal Government. But these reforms must be implemented properly and carefully, and they must be put in place in a timely fashion.

“I would like to mention briefly just a few of the significant changes I would like to see be made to this bill.  

Senator Landrieu then discussed tax credits for small businesses, tax equity for the self-employed, premiums certainty and the public option.

This does not sound like a US Senator who is in favor of the legislation but someone who is willing to work for the state trying to hone down a good bill while her associates hide for cover.  What she said was the same thing that Olympia Snowe said during the last Senate vote.  Snowe ultimately voted against this legislation as she warned. 

The legislation was imperfect and Senator Landrieu said so on the Senate floor on Saturday.  She said she wanted to the Senate to work on it and they could not count on her vote unless conditions were met.  She laid out those conditions.  The Senate legislation did not pass the bill but only allowed it to be debated.  Therefore, amendments could be crafted and passed by the full Senate and if they did not meet her standards, the Senate would likely not get her vote.  Doing nothing would simply be putting the “Congressional head in the sand” as we have been doing now for decades in trying to improve healthcare costs and delivery which will bankrupt this nation unless we attempt to fix the problem, hopefully, in a bi-partisan manner. 

Indeed, the US Senate leadership must now reach across the table to get input from the other side or else it might win the battle but lose the political war.  More than that, in a country that is so split, we must find a middle road to a problem that brings together the best offerings from both parties. 

The health care bill should be a Democratic or Republican plan.  We must find a way to cover as many Americans as inexpensively as possible while not damaging our economy. 

We need health care reform that is not a Democrat, nor a Republican bill, but a “Health Care Bill For America”.  All that occurred this Saturday is that we now are able to discuss the merits of the Senate legislation.   That is all Mary Landrieu wanted to do with her vote.  It is so much more difficult to sit down and work out merits and deficiencies of legislation than to simply say “no” and pound others for trying.  There is much more work that needs to be done on this legislation.  It must obtain sensible elements so reasonable numbers of Republican members of Congress can break away from their leadership’s lockstep desire to bring down President Obama and the Democratic majorities.

Instead, this health care debate should be about helping America bring down spiraling costs, not about either party winning at the game of politics.  Instead of being vilified, Senator Landrieu should be praised for moving the ball forward but letting Congress know that there will be no touchdown until a compromise on various issues is achieved.  By keeping the skin in the game, Senator Landrieu can help forge a better piece of legislation, even if it takes us into 2010 to get the job done.  She was hired to do what is best for Louisiana.   If it meant and still means getting the best deal for the Louisiana citizens whom Senator Landrieu represents while forging compromises so that the legislation is palatable and workable for America and for those Republicans who want to build a country rather bring down a opposing party, then she is doing her job.