The Louisiana Purchase

The Health Care Reform Bill passed a key procedural vote in the Senate, shutting down the possibility of a filibuster, when Democratic leaders promised a moderate Democratic holdout $300 million for her state in return for her vote. Here is how the Washington Post describes this and other shenanigans:

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase.

On the eve of Saturday's showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn't secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state.

And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote — and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going to be defensive," she declared. "And it's not a $100 million fix. It's a $300 million fix."

It was an awkward moment (not least because her figure is 20 times the original Louisiana Purchase price). But it was fairly representative of a Senate debate that seems to be scripted in the Southern Gothic style. The plot was gripping — the bill survived Saturday's procedural test without a single vote to spare — and it brought out the rank partisanship, the self-absorption and all the other pathologies of modern politics.

I am aware that “horse trading” is how things get done in the Senate, but Sen. Landrieu is so brazen about it–bragging about the money she got on the Senate floor–that this strike me as particularly shameful. I wonder if that $300 million will be calculated into the costs of this bill. At any rate, if we get a new health care system, whether for good or for bad, we can look back years later and thank Sen. Landrieu and the Democratic leadership for this Louisiana purchase.