During a visit to UF Friday, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson had some critical words for his party.
Nelson called for the House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s version of health care legislation, which would require Americans to purchase health insurance and exclude a public option.
The senator also criticized the president.
“[President Obama] has not been engaged like he should.” Nelson said. “If it’s [health care legislation] going to pass in the House, it’s going to have to be the president that’s going to have to put on a pair of brass knuckles and get out that bull whip – start cracking the whip.”
Nelson acknowledged there were problems with the Senate health care bill, like the Medicare giveaways for Nebraska, but he said if the House would pass the Senate version, changes could be made later through the reconciliation process, which only requires 51 votes.
He did have praise for one Democrat, though: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada.
“For Harry Reid to have cobbled together 60 very disparate, different-thinking Senate Democrats was near miraculous,” he said.
The senator also spoke optimistically about the economy.
“We got the first good news in that nationally, there was a drop in the unemployment figures,” he said. “It is now below 10 percent.”
The senator stood by Obama's stimulus plan and said a high-speed rail would produce more than 23,000 jobs over the next four years.
“When the final story is written on the stimulus bill . . . you will find it did exactly what it was supposed to do,” he said. “It gave an economic shot in the arm of the nation’s economy.”
