20 GOP Senators Call for Investigation of Offutt Air Force Base Threat

If the reports are true that the Obama administration tried using extortion to pass ObamaCare by threatening to shut down Offutt Air Force base  if Senator Ben Nelson didn’t vote for the bill….then there needs to be some kind of reckoning. I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything this despicable in American politics.

Michael Goldfarb, (an original source for this story) reports at the Weekly Standard, that 20 Republican Senators are trying to get to the bottom of it.

Twenty Republican senators have requested that the Senate Armed Services Committee launch an investigation into reports that the Obama White House threatened to close Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force base unless Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson fell into line on health care. Those reports first appeared on this blog. In the letter to Senators Levin and McCain, the committee chairman and ranking member, the 20 ask that “a hearing be held as to whether the BRAC process has been compromised.”

Meanwhile, both Nelson and the White House strenuously deny the allegation. A statement from White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer asserts “This rumor is absolutely false, as the people spreading it well know. This is nothing but a cynical, crass political game that is designed to maintain the status quo. Let’s be clear: the people spreading these falsehoods think nothing is wrong with a system under which families and businesses continue to bear the brunt of skyrocketing costs, insurance companies are allowed to discriminate and drop at will, and thousands of Americans lose their coverage every single day.”

They protest a little too much. I do not know this story is “absolutely false.” To the contrary, I’m confident it’s true. Twenty senators are now calling for an investigation, and each is presumably pretty well sourced in the Senate. If the charges are “absolutely false,” maybe the White House will encourage Senate Democrats to call this Republican bluff. I won’t hold my breath.

That’s right, the Obama administration should welcome an investigation if they have nothing to hide. Yeah, given Obama’s history, I’m not going to hold my breath either.

Glenn Beck Tackled the story on his show, Wednesday:

See also Verum Serum:

Rahm Emmanuel Holds Gun to Military Base to Force Nelson’s Vote