Cornhusker Kickback, Part Deux
Rob Bluey /
Months after making an ill-fated stand for the “Cornhusker Kickback” in health care legislation, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has again put himself in the spotlight. Yesterday he was the lone Democrat to vote against moving forward on the Senate’s financial regulation bill.
Nelson claimed in a statement, “We need to regulate Wall Street without doing harm to Main Street, and I’m hearing from Main Street businesses in Nebraska that have concerns about the current bill adversely impacting them.” But given his past attempts to extract special favors for Nebraska, not everyone is convinced of Nelson’s sincerity. Liberals such as Harold Meyerson and Matt Yglesias have been particularly critical.
Conservatives aren’t going easy on him either. Speaking this afternoon at Heritage’s Bloggers Briefing, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), a member of the Financial Services Committee and leading critic of the Senate bill, questioned Nelson’s motives.
“Isn’t that true to form? Isn’t that what Ben Nelson always does?” Royce said. “I assumed it was simply part of the bargaining process. Why would he let a bill go without the opportunity to see how much he could bid up the return for his vote?”