Lindsey Graham calls Reid’s tactics sleazy and says that Nelson’s deal might be unconstitutional

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Fox and Friends this morning, showing clear anger and frustration, gave his take on several aspect of President Obama and Harry Reid’s health care bill, and the unprecedented process they are using to shove it through congress.

Graham was asked if there is a legal problem with Ben Nelson’s deal:

Legally, I think other states can make a constitutional challenge.  Let’s let our viewers know what we are talking about here. They needed 60 votes, Ben Nelson was a hold out and instead of negotiating on C-SPAN and bringing about transparency that was promised in 2008, we wind up getting one Senator in a room where no one else knows what’s going on other than Reid and Ben Nelson and it goes sort of like this:

Reid: What do you need Ben for this last vote? I tell you what, Medicaid is expanding under this bill for everyone in the country, it’s a billion dollar increase for the people of South Carolina, what would happen if we let Nebraska increase their Medicaid enrollment and the federal government paid for it?

Nelson:  Done

I think that’s incredibly inappropriate, that’s not change we can believe in, it’s the worst in politics and this bill has no Republican support for one reason.  If it becomes law, almost 80% of the people in the country will be under some form of government health care.

Senator Graham was asked if bribery was what politics is all about? If he had ever excepted a sweetener deal for his state?

I try and advocate for the state of South Carolina, but I also try and make sure my country is doing ok too. My country means more to me than anything else when it comes to being a Senator from South Carolina. It’s not fair to my country to do this to my fellow citizens.  It’s not fair to raise $518 billion in new taxes when we are in the middle of a recession.  It’s not fair to cut Medicare by $470 billion and start a new government program.  It’s not fair to squeeze out private health care. It’s not fair to give a deal to the people of Nebraska to get one Senator’s vote and not share that deal with the rest of the country.   That’s not good politics.  That’s not normal politics.

Graham was asked again if bribery is the way things work on Capitol Hill:

In my view, no.  It’s not the way. I don’t think most Senators, believe this is ok.  If it is, just say so.  I’m on your show.  I think it stinks.  I think it’s sleazy.  Now, if you disagree with me.  You think it’s good politics, come on some show and say it’s ok with you.  Go back to your state and tell the people in your state that our Medicaid bills are going to go up, your taxes are going to go up, but we had to do this to get Nebraska on board.  Is that ok with you?  Do you think that’s fair?  I hope they get laughed out of the room.

The Senator was asked if he had ever seen anything of this scope jammed through with such a “win at any cost” approach:

Absolutely not.  Medicare passed with 79 votes.  Social Security passed with 94 votes.  The Americans with disabilities act passed with over 90 votes.  I’ve never seen, in my time in politics, an effort by one party to jam the other party and change 1/6th of the economy and not be able to get one Republican on board.  I will put my bi-partisan credentials up against anyone.  I’ve been in the gang of 14.  I worked on immigration.  I voted for Sotomayor.  They have not reached out to any Republican in a meaningful way, because at the end of the day their goal is to get more people covered by the government.  We go from 60% of Americans in government run health care to 80% of Americans in government run health care, and no Republican is going to vote for that, including Lindsey Graham or Olympia Snowe.

We’re up here to run a country and we’re up here to help people.  I want to expand coverage.  I want to do away with preexisting illness exclusions. I don’t want to run up the debt that’s beyond the ability for the next generation to pay.  I don’t want to become Europe when it comes to health care.  And, it’s frustrating to have an amendment filed on Saturday, 400 pages, and the tree be filled so that we could not amend the amendment.  It’s frustrating to have a 2,500 page bill jammed through the Senate the day before Christmas and be shut out of the process.  This is not going to help this country solve health care, and if you have private health care today, your premiums are going to go up, and you’re going to be crowded out of the marketplace and will eventually be in a government run health care plan.