WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Landrieu & Jindal share hot seat from healthcare bill

Landrieu & Jindal share hot seat from healthcare bill

By Caroline Moses - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA, has been in the spotlight since her vote Saturday, allowing debate to begin on the national healthcare bill.

Included in the deal, Landrieu secured as much as $300 million for Louisiana's Medicaid program, something she said Gov. Bobby Jindal asked for, leaving him in a sticky situation.

"It is the number one request of my governor, who is a Republican," Landrieu said Saturday on the Senate floor.

She told her fellow senators she is proud of the move she made Saturday. She voted to allow debate on the national healthcare bill and in the same measure secured million of dollars for Louisiana's Medicaid costs. Critics have called her actions "the new Louisiana Purchase."

"I think Mary Landrieu comes from the John Breaux school of governing. He's the guy that said, 'My vote is not for sale. It's for rent,'" said Jim Engster, a Baton Rouge political analyst.

Landrieu argues otherwise.

"That is not the reason I am moving to debate. The reason I am moving to debate is the same as expressed in the last hundred of speeches I have given," she said.

According to Landrieu she simply responded to requests from Gov. Jindal and his administration. Alan Levine, secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, has traveled to Washington, D.C. more than 10 times in the last three months, lobbying for more than $1 billion in Medicaid help.

"You hate to look a gift horse in the mouth and in this case, it was a Democrat, Mary Landrieu, who is an ideological foe, who came through with the bacon," Engster said.

He added that's why it's no surprise Jindal and his administration have largely stayed quiet on Landrieu's latest move.

"I think the governor is biting his lip and saying, 'I want the money and because of that, I'm not going to criticize the politics that led to the money,'" Engster noted.

According to Engster, that approach allows Jindal to stay in line with Republicans against the healthcare bill, but still collects the cash Landrieu put in it for Louisiana.

Jindal declined an interview request. He was in Nashville, Tennessee much of the day for a fundraiser for his re-election campaign. He returned to Louisiana in the afternoon.

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