| So far in the new session of Congress with Democratic President Barack Obama in the White House, Sen. Ben Nelson has proven himself an essential voice of common sense, moderation, and restraint - perhaps the last, best hope for Obama's dream of bipartisan compromise and conciliation.
Nebraskans should be proud of Nelson's work on the economic stimulus package. We should appreciate his standing alone in our Congressional delegation by standing up for expanded children's health care and for protecting women from workplace discrimination. But, from here on out, those of us looking for a progressive voice should expect some serious frustration from the only representative in whom we can place any hope whatsoever.
The Lincoln Journal-Star reports:
Sen. Ben Nelson signaled Saturday he plans to oppose President Obama's proposal to hike taxes on the wealthiest Americans. "I have serious questions (about) raising taxes in a down economy," Nelson said during an interview in Lincoln.
"I'll likely vote against it," he said. "And it's going to be hard to change my mind."
Nelson's opposition could be critical when Obama attempts to cobble together the 60 Senate votes he'll ultimately need to raise taxes on the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans.
Allowing the 2001 Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire was one of Obama's key promises on the campaign trail. Without it, it's hard to see a path back to fiscal responsibility while facing the challenges before us and delivering the change our country needs.
Nelson's opposition to returning tax levels for the rich to the same rates at which they stood during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations can hardly be reconciled with his early and vigorous support for Obama. On this, Nelson truly is undermining Obama's agenda and his promises of true reform.
Of course, there is some question whether Nelson's vote really will be necessary to pass a new federal budget. There are established procedures under which a filibuster of the federal budget would not be allowed, meaning Nelson's vote wouldn't be needed to get the Democratic majority to a 60 vote threshold. In fact, ABC News directly contradicts the Journal-Star's reporting:
Because budget bills cannot be blocked by filibuster, Democrats need only a simple majority, rather than a filibuster-proof 60 votes to approve it.
That's quite accurate if the Democrats choose to play by the same rules established when the Republicans were in power.
Perhaps most importantly, Bush's tax cuts for the rich were always scheduled to sunset. If Nelson can freely employ the logic he used in the stimulus debate that cutting new spending isn't an actual cut, then allowing a temporary tax cut to expire isn't really raising taxes. It's quite sad to see Nelson be so selective in his thinking and in his principles.
The LJS continues:
Nelson also is lining up in opposition to Obama's proposal to turn away from federally-subsidized student loans by the private sector and rely on direct government loans.
"That would transfer 1,000 jobs from Lincoln to Washington," Nelson said. "And it would transfer those jobs from the private sector to the public sector."
Nelnet, based in Lincoln, is one of the major providers of subsidized student loans. It counted $26.3 billion in net student loan assets last year.
Nelson and the Journal-Star fail to note that Nelnet is also infamous for manipulating the federal government's student loan subsidies to swindle American taxpayers out of $278 million. It wasn't a big surprise when they were completely let off the hook for that corruption by the Bush White House after being the leading contributor to the National Republican Congressional Committee in the 2006 elections.
Nelson should be ashamed using Nelnet's example to defend government subsidies for private lenders. No matter how many jobs they create in Nebraska, their greed and corruption is the prime example of why that program hasn't worked and why that money would be better spent on direct loans to students from the federal government. This isn't political retribution Obama's seeking. It's a necessary reform that finally holds Nelnet and their like accountable for failing students and cheating taxpayers.
Alas, these are just two immediate examples of where Nelson's priorities stand to be a serious roadblock to progress and reform. The issue of most concern in these regards has to be health care reform.
This is a debate that is only starting to develop but - besides the general state of the U.S. economy - it's outcome will likely be the best measure by which Obama's ultimate success will be judged. Right now, it's very hard to see Nelson supporting the change our health care system so desperately needs.
The time for piecemeal approaches is over - having failed the American people for 15 years. It's too early to see where Nelson will draw his line in the sand on so important an issue, but we have every reason to fear it being well short of the fundamental reform so long overdue and so hungered for by the American people. |
