What's Ben Nelson up to?

As everyone knows by now, Republicans now have 41 seats in the US Senate, which means that they can sustain a filibuster on issues such as ObamaCare, if they stick together.  And it's this change in Capitol dynamics that has led Democrats to entertain thoughts of trying to pass ObamaCare by getting around the filibuster rule and use what are known as "reconciliation" rules...which would only require a simple majority for passage.

In order for that to happen however, the Democrat leadership would have to get  at least 51 of 59 Democrats go along with the extraordinary measure and, as you can imagine, some of the more "moderate" Democrats are a little skittish about doing anything that blatant - especially since the election results in Massachusetts.

But now comes word that Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson may be thinking about going along with the scheme...

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has flip-flopped again -- this time saying that he can back the controversial reconciliation process that the Senate may use to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through the chamber. Nelson first flip-flopped on abortion funding.

Nelson drew the ire of the pro-life movement when he changed his mind on supporting a firm ban on all abortion funding under the bill and compromised with Harry Reid to force some taxpayers to fund abortions. ...

After Saying yesterday that Democrats should abandon their efforts to get the bill through Congress, Nelson now says he can support reconciliation as long as he supports the underlying bill.

"I've been asked about whether I'd support using the process known as reconciliation now. So, I want to make it clear: If I support a bill, then I will vote for it regardless of whether it takes 50 votes to pass or 60 votes to pass. My position doesn't change just because the House or Senate decides to change the process," Nelson said, according to Politico. ...

But Nelson hasn't always been on the reconciliation bandwagon...

Last Summer, Nelson told the Omaha World Herald newspaper, "that he would vote against using a tactic called reconciliation to push through a health care bill."

In march, Nelson called reconciliation a "deal breaker."

Nice to see such consistency on an issue that so important and could reshape over 1/6th of our economy...which the majority of the American people oppose by the way.