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NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON
Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.) the crucial 60th vote in the health care reform debate, said Sunday that having so much leverage hasn't been a situation he created and that the intensity of negotiations has been as "harsh..and unforgiving as I've ever seen it in my nine years."
Nelson has been at the center of the abortion language and struck a deal that will prevent federal funds from subsidizing plans that cover abortions. The compromise has angered people on both sides of the abortion debate.
"We tried to pass the Stupak language earlier in the Congress last week....It didn't get enough votes, the choice was do nothing or try to do something. What we were trying to do was find a way to solve the issue," Nelson said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in a good faith, just think if i'd gone home and gotten bit by the family dog...Who enjoys that?"
Nelson said that without the compromise, reconciliation probably would have been more likely.
"I put together what I thought was appropriate and I'm sorry that both sides didn't enjoy it," he said. "That's the way it works. I'm an independent type of person."
Commenting on the fact that most of the major changes don't take effect until 2014, Nelson said, "It's unfortunate that there is that lag...the majority of this doesn't take affect until sometime in the future."
"The criticism is there, it's valid....but you have to move into this incrementally," he said.
Nelson has taken heat for earning millions of dollars for his state for Medicaid expansion.
"I didn't ask for a special favor here, I didn't ask for a carve out," the senator said. "What I said was that the governor of Nebraska has contacted me. He said publicly he is having trouble with the budget. This will add to his budget woes and I said, 'Look, we have to have that fixed.' "
