Procedure is Politics
I spent the day on Capitol Hill yesterday talking to House Dems and will be there all day today too. Here are seven reasons the Senate GOP, with Senator Byrd, are going to blindside the House Dems:
Reconciliation
Trying to Pass the Bill without Voting on it will Rank up with the Nebraska Kickback
Even the Dem supporters and defenders know they are down big in the whip count (this one is from FireDogLake) and even Clive Cook writing in the Financial Times acknowledges that the Dems have lost the war of public opinion: the line taken by defenders of comprehensive healthcare reform goes like this. Yes, the public opposes the Democrats’ proposals, but it is the process more | Read More »
23 Dem Yes Votes on ObamaCare Switch to Undecided
The Speaker’s flip-flops are catching up with her. And the strangeness is starting to show (see the video): we have to pass the Senate bill so the public can see what is in it. Her famed control over house members minds is fading: She supported Chairman Rangel right up until she dumped him. She did not have the muscle to impose upon the Ways and | Read More »
Video: Biden, Dodd, Feinstein and Schumer Attack “Nuclear Option”
This video (H/T Drudge Report) captures an important piece of recent history, when the GOP controlled the White House and the Senate. The Democrats repeatedly attacked the Republicans for attempting the “nuclear option.” Senator Reid described the Republican strategy as an arrogant power grab. Senator Dodd said he has never in his time in the Senate passed any bill of any importance that did not | Read More »
CBO Can’t Score Obama’s Vapor Bill — there is No Legislative Language
The Congressional Budget Office Director, in today’s blog, says CBO cannot “score” or provide a cost estimate for Obama’s health care plan because CBO needs more detail. It’s amazing, the Trillion Dollar President wants to change the world, but doesn’t have legislative language to do it. Not even to give to CBO. Where’s the bill? The CBO Director went out of his way today (in | Read More »
Dems to Self-immolate via Reconciliation
Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation has moved the entire health care world from refitting weapons and/or R & R to DEFCON Two with these two posts, here and here. Darling is not only one of the few real operational experts on Senate Rules, he is a highly effective operative for the good guys. If Darling says the Dems are going to try it, they | Read More »
Tags: Anita Dunn, Brian Darling, Charlie Cook, Drudgereport, FireDogLake, Health care reform, Huffington Post, MyNews3, National Journal, Reconciliation, RedState, Senate Majority Leader Reid, The Heritage Foundation, The Hill, the public option, The Speaker, TIME, Washington Monthly, Wikipedia, Yahoo.com
Please Mr. Bear, Don’t Throw me into the Reconciliation Patch
The public is King Arthur — the Black Knight is the Speaker and the Trillion Dollar President. The Speaker and the White House just cannot stop themselves — more health care!
Howard Dean: “Kill the Senate Bill” — Updated, Sen. Nelson tells Obama NO
H/T erod: From Plum Line, which has published an advance look at a radio interview Howard Dean recorded for Vermont Public Radio. The interviews will air tonight at 5:50 PM: “The gauntlet from Dean — whose voice on health care is well respsected among liberals — will energize those on the left who are mobilizing against the bill, and make it tougher for liberals to | Read More »
Key Dem Senators Balk at Reconciliation Cram-Down for Health Reform
Reconciliation strategy for health care reform faces opposition from key Democratic Senators. The great New York Times health care legislative strategy takes a lethal blow — again. As Bloomberg reports: Resorting to a budget procedure called reconciliation would infuriate Republicans and force Democrats to settle for more limited changes, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington. “Both procedurally and | Read More »
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