I am truly baffled at some of the comments here. Is the US not a democracy? Is the President of the US not supposed to be the leader of the FREE world? How is it that if a senator disagrees with something, the federal government can threaten to punish a state represented by that senator. How this is actually okay with a certain percentage of the American public. Isn't the essence of democracy having the right to discuss, disagree and come to consensus by majority vote without fear of retaliation? Is that not integral to the democratic process? This is a truly frightening shift in public perception when something so essentially dictatorial as threatening to punish a US senator and an entire state for not voting a certain way is accepted and supported by any one of the American people. What on earth is happening in the United States?