Will $1B loan forgiveness for NOLA residents count toward the cost of the health care bill?

Posted by Marc Hodak on November 8, 2009 under Politics, Scandal | Be the First to Comment

It should, according to the logrolling that got the vote of the lone Republican, freshman congressman Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao:

Mr. Cao wants the Department of Homeland Security to forgive $1.27 billion in disaster loans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; officials said they would try… Mr. Cao said in a statement that he won a commitment from Mr. Obama to address issues involving Louisiana hospitals and the disaster-loan forgiveness.

There may be good reason to forgive disaster loans to New Orleans residents or businesses.  But doing so in exchange for committing the nation in a decisive step toward nationalized health care seems like a weak and profoundly cynical bargain, not to mention naive.