Now that Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson have made their stands against the Democratic Caucus in the Senate and gotten what they wanted out of and into the bill, it appears that Senator Reid has cobbled together a coalition that achieves the 60 votes necessary to end debate on the measure. A vote on the measure itself is expected on Christmas Eve.
For those unfamiliar with the legislative process, a bit of explanation follows. What we have now are essentially two different healthcare bills; one produced in the House, one produced in the Senate. They are very, very different bills. The bill the House passed cannot pass the Senate. The bill the Senate passed would have a difficult time passing in the House. The Speaker and the Senate Leader will now appoint "conferees" who will make up a conference committee. It will "reconcile" the two bills. It can do this by 1) throwing one out and adopting the other--which is unlikely but possible--Pelosi may recognize that the only way she gets the Blue Dogs is to accept the Senate bill--though this could cost her a lot of liberal votes 2) throwing both bills out and starting over with a clean slate--even more unlikely or 3) creating a new bill that is a series of compromises hammered out between the two--most likely.
The interesting thing about what comes out of this conference committee is that it (I don't believe) is not subject to amendments. It must be voted up or down. Whether or not it must also pass a "motion to proceed" in the Senate (raising the specter of another filibuster fight) is unknown to me--perhaps someone more familiar with Senate rules could comment.
The bottom line here: I believe conservatives have fought the good fight. I believe we rode the zeitgeist about as far as it could go. I believe we did a wonderful job of keeping this monstrosity of a bill from being more egregious than it is. But--there will be healthcare reform, it will look much like whatever comes out of the Senate, and it will happen by the end of January.
We must not accept this; we must make "tearing down this wall" a rallying cry for the next Congress, one we usher in with an overwhelming Republican victory in 2010. Time to get to work.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
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4 comments:
I agree; it would be a huge show of solidarity if every Republican congressman and senator voted "no".
I think we've got a two year window to repeal this thing, and it ain't gonna be easy. First we have to get a super majority in both houses. Then we have to convince the American people they are better off without it. I don't think it can be done.
When Medicare was first proposed it polled negative 75%. Now it's about 95% positive. Why? Because it's all they know. When you get people on the dole it is a bitch to get them off. They will never voluntarily give it up.
CW is right, this crap is going to pass. Now all the lies told and politicians bought off and manipulations in the bill don't matter. In a couple of years we'll be talking about how this passed in the heat of battle and now let's get to work fixing this thing. That's when they'll finish it...and us.
Chuck Colson famously said, get 'em by the balls and their hearts and minds will soon follow. No truer word ever spoken. We will be dealing with this a very long time.
Hey RR--again, love your site, but you don't need to advertise--you're on my list of favorites. How bout a reciprocal?
Alas, you all forget that those who presently pay little or no taxes will look uppon this as something free from the government. After all, it is only "GOVERNMENT MONEY" they are spending so why get upset. These are the people aho elected Obama and will elect other lib/dems in future elections.
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