Liberals in Congress plan to pass Obamacare without a vote, sneaky aren't they?
President Obama and liberals in Congress seem intent on passing comprehensive health care reform, even though polls suggest it is unpopular with the American people. And despite the potential political risks to moderate Democrats, the President and left-wing leadership in Congress are determined to pass the measure using a rare parliamentary procedure.
The Senate plans to attach Obamacare to
More..a House-passed non-healthcare bill. Ironically, nobody knows what that legislation looks like, because it has not yet been written. Yet many members plan to rubber-stamp Obamacare without reading or understanding the bill.
The Senate Finance Committee worked furiously last week to mark up a “conceptual framework” of health care reform. The committee actually rejected an amendment by Sen. Jim Bunning (R.-Ky.) to mandate that the bill text and a final cost analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) be publicly available at least 72 hours before the Finance Committee votes on final passage.
The following four-step scenario describes one way liberals plan to work the rules in their favor to get Obamacare through the Senate:
Step 1: The Senate Finance Committee must first approve the marked-up version of Sen. Max Baucus’ (D.-Mont.) conceptual framework. Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) can say that two Senate Committees have passed a health care bill, which will allow him to take extraordinary steps to get the bill on the Senate floor.
During the mark-up last week, members had difficulty offering amendments and trying to make constructive changed because they lacked actual legislative text and Baucus made unilateral last minute changes. For example, the AP reported that “under pressure from fellow Democrats, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee decided to commit an additional $50 billion over a decade toward making insurance more affordable for working-class families.”
Step 2: Sen. Reid will take the final product of the Senate Finance Committee and merge it with the product of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which passed on a party-line vote in July.
Usually, a bill is voted out of committee, and then the Senate takes up the final product of the committee so that all 100 senators can have a hand in the process. With some help from the Obama administration, Reid will decide what aspects of the HELP and Finance Committee bills to keep.
Step 3: Now, Obamacare will be ready to hitch a ride on an unrelated bill from the House. Sen. Reid will move to proceed to H.R. 1586, a bill to impose a tax on bonuses received by certain TARP recipients. This bill was passed by the House in the wake of the AIG bonus controversy and is currently sitting on the Senate Legislative Calendar.
The move to proceed needs 60 votes to start debate. After the motion is approved, Sen. Reid will offer Obamacare as a complete substitute to the unrelated House-passed bill. This means that the entire healthcare reform effort will be included as an amendment to a TARP bill that has been collecting dust in the Senate for months.
Step 4: For this strategy to work, the proponents would need to hold together the liberal caucus of 58 Democrats (including Paul Kirk who was named last Thursday to replace Sen. Kennedy), and the two Independent senators (Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont). These members will have to all hold hands and vote against any filibuster. Once the Senate takes up the bill, only a simple majority of members will be needed for passage. It’s possible one of the endangered moderate Democrats, such as Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), could vote to stop a filibuster then vote against Obamacare so as not to offend angry constituents.
Once the Senate passes a bill and sends it to the House, all the House would have to do is pass the bill without changes and President Obama will be presented with his health care reform measure. If this plan does not work, the Senate and House leadership may go back to considering using reconciliation to pass the legislation.
Adopting this secret plan will not strike most Americans as a transparent, bipartisan, effective way to change how millions of Americans get their health care.
Brian Darling is director of U.S. Senate Relations at The Heritage Foundation. Less..
Note: This item contains 2 connected files (see top right)
Added: Sep 29 2009 In: news_politics
Recorded on: Sep 29 2009
By: wet501 
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Comments - sort by newest to oldest
"Moderate Democrats" = Useful Idiots
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "sprunk" (R)
Its called 'taxation without representation'.
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "Awsomatic" (B)
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
Dream about your revolution while the entire world laughs at you.
These folks were elected to office with an election, if you don't like the system please move to China.
Thank you!
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "WillyWillKill" (R)
damn buddy, get a job or a constructive hobby......shesh.......
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "Tongueboy" (R)
"shesh"= sheesh, as in an exasperated sigh.
;o)
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "Tongueboy" (R)
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
If you and your ilk "represent" America, I would gladly move.
But you don't.
You are simply the "Lunatic Fringe" and most Americans know that.
Good luck on that whole "tea-bagging" thang ya got goin on ;o)
Please don't embarrass yourself by telling me it is "going great".
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "Tongueboy" (R)
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
If you and your ilk "represent" America, I would gladly move.
But you don't.
You are simply the "Lunatic Fringe" and most Americans know that.
Good luck on that whole "tea-bagging" thang ya got goin on ;o)
Please don't embarrass yourself by telling me it is "going great".
Daws is one of our resident zionist goyboy americans who expound on Pro-Israeli crap at the expense of US lives and money....nothing new here.
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "joeslummer" (R)
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
If you and your ilk "represent" America, I would gladly move.
But you don't.
You are simply the "Lunatic Fringe" and most Americans know that.
Good luck on that whole "tea-bagging" thang ya got goin on ;o)
Please don't embarrass yourself by telling me it is "going great".
Daws is one of our resident zionist goyboy americans who expound on Pro-Israeli crap at the expense of US lives and money....nothing new here.
agreed and thanks for the comment ;o)
Always nice to see a voice of sanity in here ;o)
I "almost" feel sorry for the right wing losers with no jobs that spew continuous hate in here.
Go work at Mcdonalds and see how the other half lives, losers.
Posted Sep-29-2009 by "Tongueboy" (R)
Lol at libs. One last shot before their demise, just as it happened after that failure Carter...
Posted Sep-30-2009 by "nexuspal" (R)
Quote from you:
"Congress seem intent on passing comprehensive health care reform, even though polls suggest it is unpopular with the American people."
Where did you get your figures, or did you even bother to find out if the Single payer system is really popular with the American public or not.
Learn to use Google.
Quote:
ABC News;
"Americans by a 2-1 margin prefer a universal health insurance program over the current employer-based system".
New York Times;
"A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American".
NRP;
"Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option".
The Huffington Post;
"New Poll: 77 Percent Support "Choice" Of Public Option".
CBS;
"A New York Times/CBS News poll released last week shows, yet again, that the majority of Americans support national health insurance."
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/new-poll-77-percent-suppo_n_264375.html
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/US/healthcare031020_poll.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/washington/02poll.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112818960
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/new-poll-77-percent-suppo_n_264375.html
http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer/
Posted Sep-30-2009 by "24038462" (R)
The last time it happened to Americans there was a revolution and we sent the British packing....
Q.
Whatever happened to that pioneer spirit.
A.
It died with the wild west.
You are living in the past. Catch up, the rest of us are in the 21st. century.
You are still having wet dreams about a victory that ended over 230 years ago.
Posted Sep-30-2009 by "24038462" (R)
To hell with the Liberals in Congress! What about WE THE PEOPLE!!!!?
Posted Oct-2-2009 by "napedog208"