As was reported earlier today on TPM, Senator Charles Grassley has sent out a press release taking credit for a provision included in the just-enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, something have to do with improving accountability of the operations of non-profit hospitals in the U.S.
Here's the link to the story on TPM
While I am no fan of Senator Grassley, he never seemed comfortable to me in the role he assumed last summer in scuttling the Gang of Six discussions in the Finance Committee led by Max Baucus, nor in mouthing support for Sarah Palin's outrageous assertions about `death panels' in the bill.
I always felt that Grassley was afraid if he did not toe the line of the Senate Republican conference with respect to the health care reform bill, he would run the risk of provoking a primary challenge from a Tea-Party type for his upcoming re-election effort.
As I suspected, I googled the filing deadline for the Republican primary to be held later this spring in Iowa, and to no great surprise, that deadline passed last Friday (March 19th) without another Republican filing to run against him.
At heart, Grassley is a deal-maker, especially in tandem with Max Baucus, and now he has more freedom to continue that.