Senators resist Obama over projects in health bill

Patrick Leahy, Max Baucus, Harry Reid and Chris Dodd, the "honest" hypocrites.

I attempt to not venture into any politics other than the politics of fitness at this blog.

This politics is fitness-related.

Fat taxes are ways to make the entirety of the US population pay for the calorically irresponsible.

This includes all of us who have been doing the right thing by being calorically responsible.

When it comes to sick care reform, here is what the USA politicians have to say:

The Senate-approved health measure lawmakers hope to send to Obama soon would steer $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts.

Connecticut would get $100 million to build a hospital. About 800,000 Florida seniors could keep certain Medicare benefits. Asbestos-disease victims in tiny Libby, Mont., and some coal miners with black lung disease or their widows would get help, and there are prizes for Louisiana, the Dakotas and more states...

Obama has railed against the "ugly process" of cutting special deals, but the president and his top advisers were prime players in negotiations on the agreements to win votes and push the legislation forward...

"We've made it clear to the Senate that the president's position in the final legislation should not contain provisions that favor a single state or a single district differently than others," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said this week.

There are exceptions. The White House says $300 million for Louisiana, which helped win support from moderate Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., should survive because of that state's struggle to rebound from its 2005 pummeling by Hurricane Katrina...

Take Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who helped win extra Medicaid money for his state in the Senate health bill.

Vermont is one of several states that have already boosted the benefits they provide to many poor people. All states would get added federal financing for a nationwide Medicaid expansion under the Senate bill. But states such as Vermont — already providing more generous benefits — say they're being shortchanged and don't want Obama taking that money away.

"What I told Harry Reid is that Vermont does the right thing, and I don't want Vermont to be penalized for doing the right thing," Leahy said.

...$100 million to build a public hospital in Connecticut inserted by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. But the money will remain in the final bill, according to people familiar with Democratic negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the unannounced decision...

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., put a provision in the Senate health bill allowing many of the 2,900 residents of Libby to qualify for Medicare benefits. Some of them have asbestos-related diseases from a now shuttered mine.

"It simply doesn't make sense to ignore this obligation, or victims of these disasters," Baucus said.

But it does make sense to penalize the rest of us for doing the right thing and ignore us, the victims of the fatso disaster.

Shameful politician conduct (expected) clearly, but kudos for being up front about it.

Now go boot them out of office and derail their self-admitted unfairness to the calorically responsible.