Posted on 03/04/2010 5:58:13 AM PST by InterceptPoint
Opponents of Obama’s so-called health care reform are understandably up in arms at the president’s embrace of reconciliation as a way to force changes to his bill through the Senate. --It feels as if Scott Brown’s election had never happened. Reconciliation, part of the budget process designed to raise or lower revenues or spending, was never designed as a way to change the rules to pass controversial policy changes that otherwise would fail for lack of 60 votes needed to invoke cloture. But as outrageous as reconciliation is, ultimately it’s a distraction, and free-market activists who focus on it may miss the real fight in the U.S. House of Representatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether or not the Senate passes changes to its health care bill via reconciliation. That’s because the reconciliation process cannot even begin until after the House passes the Senate bill exactly as it passed the Senate on Christmas Eve. That means it must pass with the abortion language already rejected by Rep. Bart Stupak and others still intact. It also must pass with the outrageous pork barrel spending deals cut for Nebraska, Louisiana, Connecticut, and others. In other words, the bill must pass the House with everything in it that the American people have already made clear they hate.
The talk about Reconciliation is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
Threats from the DNC that reelection campaigns will not be funded for those who don't fall into line???
[Threats from the DNC that reelection campaigns will not be funded for those who don’t fall into line??? ]
So what. No amount of money will be able be able to buy re-election for many of these members if they vote Yay. People will have made up there minds and block the campaigning out. I think many people are to this point already. They will show up and vote straight Republican ticket in November. No amount of campaigning is going to change their minds. Neither will the media who they are also blocking out. This is what I am seeing and hearing anyway. People are angry.
It's more like: they're in the bank with the vault wide open and the cops are still a mile away, screaming toward them at breakneck speed (i.e., November is coming up fast and there are a lot of Scott Browns on the way) -- so they'd best grab the loot while the gettin' is good. And that is the exact heist they are trying to pull with this latest maneuver.
And if that fails, guess what?
Obama will do his best Maxwell Smart imitation and say, "Would you believe ... a scaled-down version, a mere 1350-page health bill that has...yada, yada?"
I'm sure there will be the normal arm twisting. But in the end those potential YES votes that Pelosi needs can only be delivered if the reluctant members of the House have absolute faith that the Senate will pass a reconciliation bill with the proper fixes. Bart Stupak, for example, will never vote for the Senate Bill unless he knows for certain that a reconciliation bill will eliminate abortion funding from the final law. How can he be given such assurance? I don't know that he can. But what is important is that the people of this country convince him and others that it is not worth the political risk for them to trust the Senate. That's the battle that needs to be fought.
FBI files, employment disclosure information, and various other methods to secure votes are being used by the leadership. It’s a war that Democrats don’t plan to lose. I honestly don’t think the Republicans are even on the same battlefield.
Do you have a reliable source for this? If so, I would like to pass it along to my blue-dog congressman.
This is an excellent article. It makes clear on just what is really going on.
All must read it and think about it. And CONTACT your Congresscritter!
Have you checked out the Eric Massa threads? The timing’s interesting to say the least.
Republicans rage against reconciliation for healthcare reform
The Democrats' new plan would go like this: The House would first vote to approve the Senate healthcare bill, which passed on Dec. 24 on a party-line vote, 60 to 39. But because the Senate bill is unacceptable to most House members, the House would also pass a package of “fixes.” Then, the Senate would pass the fixes under the reconciliation rules that require only a majority vote.
Angry Republicans present only one of the challenges to this plan. House Democrats wary of the Senate present another.
The key is convincing House Democrats that the Senate will pass the fixes, as promised. Asked at a press briefing whether the House is willing to take a “leap of faith” by passing the bill before the Senate passes the fixes, House majority leader Steny Hoyer said: “Well, we're working on having that faith verified."
End snip
ammo
OBAMANOMICS—TRICKLE DOWN DESTRUCTION of the economy
Bambi doesn’t keep his promises...so buyer beware!
SET THEIR LOCAL AND DC LINES ON FIRE!
PLEASE ASK THEM TO REPEAL THE BIG NEW FEES in TRICARE for Life, the retired Military over 65 secondary health ins. which they passed in a DOD bill. They promised our Military these benefits, and our Military have earned them.
Sen Scott Brown’s number is 202-224-4543
Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121
Lots of local demwit phone numbers on this thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408217/posts
Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke. NO COLAs for granny, retired Military or retired fed employees. BIG NEW fees for Tricare for Life retired over 65 Military’s secondary health ins. (DOD bill already passed, delayed but goes into effect 2011 NEEDS TO BE REPEALED!
OBAMA’s WAR ON SENIORS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2433867/posts/
New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.
Obama says slight fix will extend Social Security, http://townhall.com/news/us/2010/02/19/obama_says_slight_fix_will_extend_social_security
Health Care Rationing for Seniors Another Problem in New Obama Plan http://www.lifenews.com/bio3058.html
Medicare tax may apply to investment income (ObamaCare tax hike)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2460988/posts
Obama: No reduced Medicare benefits in health care reform
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/28/obama.health.care/index.html
Will healthcare reform mean cuts in Medicare for seniors?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2009/1017/will-healthcare-reform-mean-cuts-in-medicare-for-seniors
Health Reform’s Hidden Victims Young people and seniors would pay a high price for ObamaCare.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574306303720472842.html
SOCIALIZED MED THREAD http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2463709/posts
MILITARY & retired Military
TRI CARE FOR LIFE This from a google search:
http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2009/05/tricare-for-life-is-obama-trying-to.html
This option would help reduce the costs of TFL, as well as costs for Medicare, by introducing minimum out-of pocket requirements for beneficiaries. Under this option, TFL would not cover any of the first $525 of an enrollee’s cost-sharing liabilities for calendar year 2011 and would limit coverage to 50 percent of the next $4,725 in Medicare cost sharing that the beneficiary incurred. (Because all further cost sharing would be covered by TFL, enrollees could not pay more than $2,888 in cost sharing in that year.) http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-HealthOptions.pdf
Bill Would Restrict Veterans’ Health Care Options 11/06/09
Buyer and McKeon Offer Amendments to Protect Veterans and TRICARE Beneficiaries
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva110609-1.htm
Congress plans to block Tricare fee increases
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/military_tricarefees_blocked_100709w/
By Rick Maze - Staff writer, Oct 7, 2009
Tricare fee increases imposed last week by the Defense Department will be repealed by a provision of the compromise 2010 defense authorization bill unveiled Wednesday by House and Senate negotiators.
The fee increases were announced on Sept. 30 and took effect on Oct. 1, but the defense bill, HR 2647, includes a provision barring any fee increases until the start of fiscal 2011.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bill Matz, president of the National Association for Uniformed Services, said the announcement of fee increases was shocking considering that the Obama administration promised earlier this year to hold off on any new fee Tricare fee increases until fiscal 2011.
“President Obama and DoD assured NAUS and the entire military family earlier this year that there would rightly be no increases in any Tricare fees” in fiscal 2010, Matz said. “We took them at their word, and I can’t believe that a co-pay increase like this was allowed to go forward,” he added.
Most of those who voted on the Republican side said it was their first time to do so. However, they indicated that it was not local or state issues that prompted them to do so, but instead, the political scene in Washington.
In Tyler County, 1,216 ballots were cast on the Republican side and 976 were cast on the Democratic side. In Hardin County, 5,281 ballots were cast on the Republican side and 2,112 ballots were cast on the Democratic side.
In Angelina County, 5,051 ballots were cast on the Republican side and 3,138 were cast on the Democratic side. In Orange County, 4,767 ballots were cast in the Democratic Primary and 4,483 ballots were cast on the Republican side.
sleep with every senator and rep.
Why would anybody trust a Democrat Senator, like Specter, Harry Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Rockefeller, Leahey, Dodd, ...?
They’re all liars and schemers: the country, the prosperity of our children and grandchildren, our economic solidarity, our military and diplomatic strength mean nothing to them.
Everyone knows this, especially Democrats like Stupak.
If he trusts these traitors, he will ultimately get stung, just like the frog who carried the scorpion across the water, because that’s what scorpions do.
Exactly.
Dollars to donuts, if the House passes the Senate Bill, the Senate will drop the idea of reconciliation - calling it “too divisive.”
No source just years of being political in the Democrat Party. That’s why I am not a Democrat today.No source and no way to prove anything and that’s just how business is done. The Republicans have no clue how hard this game is played.
Can you give us the CliffNotes on the Massa thread? Thanks
And the bill will become law? Am I right on this or not?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul_90
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