Ben Nelson Won't Commit To Blocking GOP Health Care Filibuster

One of the toughest Democrats to corral in the Senate confirmed on Thursday that he is not committed to helping his party block a Republican filibuster on health care legislation.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has long been a skeptic of Democratic-led health care reform, specifically the public option for insurance coverage. But in the wake of Paul Kirk's appointment as a temporary replacement for the late Senator Ted Kennedy -- which gives the party 60 caucusing members -- leadership and allied Democratic groups have renewed their hopes that the Nebraskan would commit to voting for cloture, the 60-vote hurdle that would allow health care to be considered by up-or-down vote.

As of now, however, Nelson is still insisting that such a promise would be premature.

"Senator Nelson has not said he will vote for cloture even if he opposes the health care reform bill," his spokesman, Jake Thompson, wrote in an email to the Huffington Post. "He doesn't even have a bill at this point to consider. Quite the opposite, he has said hasn't made any commitment one way or the other on procedural issues, that his not on autopilot, and his voting record backs that up."

"He has said that a few times in the past he voted for cloture on a bill he opposed," Thompson added. "So he was yes on cloture, no on the bill in the final up or down vote. But he explicitly has said he's made no determination on how he will vote on cloture regarding health care reform."

Thompson's email came in response to a Huffington Post story on Wednesday, which reported that Nelson had "indicated that he would support cloture even if he ultimately votes against the bill." That line was drawn from an earlier Huffington Post story in which Bud Pettigrew, the chair of county chairs for the Nebraska Democratic Party, said that Nelson told him he would vote for cloture on health care reform.

"I really think Bud Pettigrew misheard or misinterpreted what Sen. Nelson said," Thompson explained, pointing to an early September article in The Hill, in which Nelson similarly indicated that he might oppose cloture. "But I wasn't in the room during the call. I can imagine him saying he could vote for cloture then no on the bill--which he has done before. I would be surprised if he said he would--particularly because at the time he couldn't have known what kind of bill would be before him on the Senate floor."

Should Nelson defect on cloture, it would all but ensure that Republicans successfully filibuster health care legislation.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[bogues]

01:47 PM on 09/26/2009

Every American in this country who wants health care reform needs to know that big donors have stopped the flow of money to the Democratic party. It is up to us, the people to see to it the Democrats are on equal footing financially with the Republicans. We can be defeated by not having enough money to fight this good fight.

[rtlr1004]

02:34 PM on 09/25/2009

Nebraska,
Flood this man with emails and calls demanding that he represent the citizens of Nebraska and NOT his personal interest. Demand the public option and health care reform. If he does not vote in favor of it, unseat him and replace him with a Democrat of integrity. This man is a greedy hypocrite. He is taking millions of dollars from insurance companies and doing NOTHING to make health care possible for all the citizens of Nebraska. Do not let him get away with this!

[rtlr1004]

02:14 PM on 09/25/2009

OK Nebraskans. Look at what your man is doing. He gets 2 million dollars from the insurance companies while thousands of Americans are dying because they can't afford health care or they have lost their jobs and lost health care or the insurance companies refuse to pay for life saving procedures. If Nelson does not support health care reform and the public option, he will be placed on the lists of Democrats we must replace with another Democrat more able to support the needs of the citizens of this country. I expect to hear this sort of negativity from Republicans; however, I am MUCH more upset when I see that there are obstructionists within the Democratic Party. Either he joins with us, or he MUST GO.

[nick1936]

02:07 PM on 09/25/2009

another bought and paid for CROOK

[babyboomerorig]

12:08 PM on 09/25/2009

From the posts here, it seems as though Nelson's constituants aren't all behind him.

Maybe he's just talked to the conservatives in his state....oh, and the insurance lobbyists.

[jkatt1]

11:31 AM on 09/25/2009

Exactly Harpseal!!!!! and up here what is the biggest business going????Insurance companies.I too receive those nice mimeographed letters form his office that say NOTHING.I am on board to get oust the buzzard also.Not any help with the clean energy act either.He just takes up space.

[Harpseal60]

11:18 AM on 09/25/2009

This is a small part of a story previously posted on Huffington Post.

Nelson has received over $2 million from health and insurance interests who oppose President Obama's public health insurance option. Those companies fear competition. 71% of rural voters support it.

Who did Nelson side with? You guessed it -- in May, he sided with the insurance interests against the citizens of Nebraska, calling the public option a "deal breaker."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/some-victory-against-ben_b_214141.html

[Chapmanp2]

10:14 AM on 09/25/2009

This is a simple political calculation to keep the dollars flowing in for Ben Nelson. He knows that if he bucks the party on cloture he will be target #1 along w/ any other obstructionist Dems.

[pistoff]

10:12 AM on 09/25/2009

Ben Nelson must go. Anyone who is too thick to understand why they were elected is not going to be any kind of agent for change.

[hamchunk]

10:41 AM on 09/25/2009

He was elected by HIS constituents, to represent HIS constituents. He should be applauded for not following the national party line and thinking of his district first. If more politicians thought of their constituents before party, the country would be in a better place.

[Harpseal60]

11:06 AM on 09/25/2009

I am one of his constituents and believe me, he is NOT thinking about us right now. He is only thinking about all the favors he owes the insurance companies for all that money he got from them. I voted for this clown once...never again.

[dmwirth]

09:46 AM on 09/25/2009

Vote him out of office!!!!!

[kewps]

09:36 AM on 09/25/2009

Ben, I can say as one of your constituents that I will do everything in my power to make sure you won't hold public office in this state again and I know I am not alone.

[jwredd]

10:18 AM on 09/25/2009

Come on Nebraska, get rid of this guy! This is freakin' ridiculous.

[Harpseal60]

10:30 AM on 09/25/2009

As a fellow Nebraskan, I agree 100%. I have written to his office several times, only to received a e-mail form letter stating he plans to do what is best for the people of his state. What a bunch of BULL. He plans to do whats best for his bank account by keeping the donations from the private insurance companies rolling in. He must go.....

[jazzman]

09:30 AM on 09/25/2009

I've switched my giving from giving generally to the Democratic Party in general to specific candidates. Ben Nelson is a perfect example of a Democrat who should not recieve a penny of support from the Party. However, with the Rahm contingent in charge these types of Senators will still get backed and not disciplined. Therefore, my money is going to Senators Al Franken and Russ Feingold first, possibly Bernie Sanders third, and then to person in my State who is running for the Senate for the first time.

I think the days of blindly supporting Democrats must come to an end. I've had enough of Baucus, Nelson, Landrieu, and Conrad to last me for a life time. On top of that, once Joe Lieberman was a Democrat. How pathetic was that?

[AmyRN]

09:15 AM on 09/25/2009

I get donation requests from the Democrats several times a week. The DNCC, the Illinois Democratic party, and individual requests. I have given a lot of money in the past. Now I am waiting to see what happens with the public option before I give any more.
If the Democrats don't get the public option passed, I'll be donating to the individual candidates that I think tried, and to the opponents of those who blocked it. That includes primary opponents against some of these Blue Dolts.
I agree with the earlier post that I will also give to the Progressive organizations to help make life miserable for the obstructionists.

[rtlr1004]

02:19 PM on 09/25/2009

AmyRN: I get the same requests myself, and I will NOT give a dime of my money to the Democratic Party when we have individuals like Nelson and Blanche Lincoln putting the public option and health care reform in jeopardy. These Democrats are useless. They serve no one's interest but their own. It is time for them to be defeated by another Democrat who actually has the well-being of Americans in mind when they vote. These two are clearly in the pockets of coporations, and this is not acceptable. They may as well be Republican obstructionists. I assure you I plan to work however I can to see that these spineless, hypocritical Democrats lose their seat to a Democrat who is actually capable of helping the citizens and NOT big corporations. They should be ashamed, and we NEED to publicly SHAME them. Call them out!

[Saxton]

09:13 AM on 09/25/2009

I would think the Democrats would be smart enough to realize that most Amercians want a public option and that most Americans are tired of the hypocracy of the Washington beltway. If the Democratic Congress can't show that they are able to really do the work of the people, unlike when the Republicans were in control, then they will suffer the same fate regardless of the money being thrown at them from lobbyist. People in this country are hurting and are being forced to bare the burden of corporate greed and corruption. I believe what is happening to the Republican party will also happen to the Democratic party when people realize that their elected officials are not going to Washington to represent their constiutents, but only to legislate and get rich off of corporate lobbyist.

[callmeslice23]

09:01 AM on 09/25/2009

Hopefully Nebraska is smart enough to get rid of this guy in the next go around. Honestly, we may even be better off with a republican winning the election so A) we know where they will stand on issues and B) we can actually run a real democrat afterwards.

In my opinion, we need to have a primary in Nebraska - but I'm not sure that will ever happen.