[TheMercenary]

The Price of 'History'
Harry Reid delivers a bundle of special-interest favors.

Blanche Lincoln and Evan Bayh must feel like saps. The Arkansas and Indiana Democrats spent months caterwauling about this or that provision in the Senate health-care bill, then at 1 a.m. Monday they voted to speed its passage without getting so much as a lousy T-shirt.

In Harry Reid's Senate, this qualifies as dereliction of duty, as the Majority Leader said himself on Monday in defense of his frantic deal-making to get 60 votes. "I don't know if there is a Senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to them," Mr. Reid said at a press conference that offered an unintentional commentary on modern democracy. "And if they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them."

Meanwhile, the Reid bill's fine print also solves the mystery of Florida Senator Bill Nelson, who is no relation to Ben but is just as crafty. How could a Florida Democrat, who has built his career denouncing Medicare "cuts," vote for a bill that pays for a new entitlement for younger Americans by taking more than $400 billion from health-care for seniors?

His brilliant solution: Include a grandfather clause that exempts Florida seniors who currently have Medicare Advantage benefits from losing them. This little beauty is worth $3 billion to $5 billion. (Presumably Arizona, also the home to many retirees, didn't qualify because its two Senators are Republicans.)

This does mean, of course, that if you turn 65 next year and move to Florida and want Medicare Advantage, you don't qualify for the Nelson Advantage. So some seniors will be more equal than others. But at least Mr. Nelson was able to minimize the chance of a major senior revolt against his support for Medicare cuts.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...077223550.html