Senator Nelson: Extend ‘Cornhusker Compromise’ to All States

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January 19, 2010 Tuesday 03:04 PM EST

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Senator Nelson: Extend 'Cornhusker Compromise' to All States

Sean P Carr

WASHINGTON

U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he wants to see his chamber's health care bill revised to grant all states the special Medicaid treatment it currently includes for Nebraska. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nelson said he never intended to create what some have called the "Cornhusker Compromise" or the "Cornhusker Kickback."

Under the Nelson deal, the federal government would pay the full cost of the reform plan's expansion of Medicaid coverage for Nebraska residents; it would have exempted Nebraska from having to pay additional Medicaid funds. In response, 14 Republican state attorneys general threatened to sue on constitutional grounds if the provision ended up in final legislation (BestWire, Jan. 13, 2010). They argued the provision was unfair to every other state.

In a Jan. 15 letter to Reid, D-Nev., Nelson said he intended the special Nebraska provision to serve as a "placeholder" to secure a similar guarantee for all state governments.

"I believe I have been clear that my intentions during all stages of negotiations were not that the State of Nebraska be given a special deal, but rather that all states be given the same tools to address an unfunded federal mandate. To remove any attempts at continued distortion or miscommunication on this point, however, I ask that the Nebraska Medicaid exemption be removed and that all states receive equal treatment under the Medicaid expansion," Nelson wrote.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox -- one of the state attorneys general who first objected to the Nebraska provision -- welcomed Nelson's statement.

"The apparent death of the Cornhusker Kickback is a victory for taxpayers," Cox said in a statement. "Michigan and 48 other states can only hope Senator Nelson isn't a day late and one-hundred-million dollars short."

A special election in Massachusetts may determine the fate of federal health care reform efforts. Democrat Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general, faces Scott Brown, a Republican state senator. A Brown victory would end the Democrats' 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate.

(By Sean P. Carr, Washington Correspondent: [email protected])

January 20, 2010