Posted on 03/13/2017 8:06:46 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Who would have thought that Sen Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would find the Gordian knot that will change the #Obamacare impasse from a grinding campaign to try to pass a repeal and replace bill that no one is entirely satisfied with? The senator seems to have found a way to avoid a filibuster entirely in the effort to reform health care reform and pass a new, free-market law.
Thus far the problem has been what and what not can be included in a reconciliation bill that only needs 51 votes to pass the Senate. The bill being presented does not contain things like group insurance plans by associations, buying policies across state lines, tort reform, or removing a lot of Obamacare regulations. What is left is something that conservatives have called “Obamacare-light.” The rest of the provisions, it is promised, will happen in a separate bill where 60 votes will be needed.
Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer, has found a way around all that. Ordinarily, it is up to the Senate Parliamentarian what and what cannot be included in a reconciliation bill. However, the senator has found a provision in the 1974 #budget Act that states that the Vice President, as President of the Senate, can also determine what can be in reconciliation. Hence, Obamacare can be tossed on the ash heap of history and replaced by free market reforms in one fell swoop.
If the Senate Republicans are willing to do it. Invoking the provision of the Budget Act would be seen as a radical move. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats would be enraged and will protest to the heavens. But it looks like the Republicans can roll them over and fix the greatest public policy blunder in a generation, if not a century. All they have to do is not go wobbly and stick together.
Of course, it should be mentioned that Obamacare was passed using dodgy tactics and lawyers’ tricks. It would only be fitting if the dysfunctional health care law is repealed using some clever lawyering. Trump will get his first legislative victory, Healthcare would be fixed, and Cruz becomes the master of the Senate. So much winning. #Ted Cruz
Well, apparently that was passed under Dem Majority Leader Mike Mansfield during a Republican administration. Don’t know what possessed them but given the large majorities the Rats had at the time and with a damaged chief executive that must have been considered good at the time. Will be fun and interesting to research ...
Yes Cruz is helping the country not like the other senators who only help themselves. Consider the primaries, he just raised in my opinion of him.
I’d love to see this happen. Roll phase 3 and phase 1 together and get it passed through reconciliation because of an old law that everyone forgot about. That would be sweet justice. Mitch will never do it though.
Must be a goldman plot.....
All they have to do is not go wobbly and stick together.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That’s a tall order.
You can bet that both Ryan and McConnell are wrapping their heads in ace bandages to keep their heads from exploding tonight.
McConnell does not cotton to Cruz, but it looks like Ted has handed the RINOs a weapon they do not want.
What Ryan and McConnell want is to hand health care back to Big Pharm and Insurance Companies. And they were using reconciliation process to do it.
Cruz just had dinner with president Trump, who likely knew this was coming. The question is whether Trump , Cruz and the Freedom Caucus can put enough pressure on the RINOs to use the Budget Act provision.
If so , we will not need 3 phases. ( one now and the later two likely never.).
OK Ted. Lets roll.
>Yes Cruz is helping the country not like the other senators who only help themselves. Consider the primaries, he just raised in my opinion of him.
Ted want’s redemption. Killing Obamacare would get an all is forgiven from me and many others.
I suspect Senator Cruz spoke to President Trump about his discovery during dinner at the White House.
Present the Snapping Turtle the Stick. Once he latches on, drag him along...
Ditch is derilect in his duties to not replace the hack Dingy Parlimentarian who is clearly NOT an elected official and likely a cog in the ‘Rat Deep State.
“PAUL RYAN IS A POS!!!”
I need not watch that video to know what Ryan is.
Such a waste; men do not seize the opportunity to burn their names into the history books for the right reasons.
Completely agree. So tired of the right being so wimpy and feckless while the left just mows the right down and they just take it.
Time to engage the enemy and be strong!
Hold on now, He has a ways to swim up stream before I trust him... Let him pull this off and it will go a long way.
We will see.
I’m a little jaded after Supreme Court, refusal to defund, etc.
Cruz gets past the filibuster, only for a bunch of RINOs to vote no and we spent loads of political capital on nothing.
In 1974, the VP was GOP (first Gerald Ford, then Nelson Rockefeller). The ‘Rats had a death grip on control of both houses. The bill must have been a compromise.
The GOPe won’t do it.
Comparing this to the corrupt methods the Democrats employed is nonsense.
He said they become “squishes” when they get to DC. I’m wondering if the crap in the intel agencies will be exposed to the point that America can see how this “squishiness” is able to happen so routinely.
And maybe the media should - just once - be given a dose of their own medicine. Maybe their own “indiscretions” should be exposed, the way that politicians have to fear that theirs will be exposed - or made up if necessary. IIRC, weren’t there DNC emails showing they planned to claim bimbos for WHOEVER got the R nomination? Didn’t really matter if any of it was true; libel works just as well as the truth, if you’ve got a media willing to go along with it...
Well, the media needs a dose of their own medicine, something to make them realize that two can play at that game and if fake news is OK for the goose it’s also good for the gander. Mr. and Mrs. Jake Tapper LOVE Comet Ping Pong? Maybe it’s time for America to know why. Are they literally in bed with the dems? How many newsbabes have slept with the politicians who then give them an “anonymous scoop”? It’s way past time for the incestuous relationship between the media and the establishment political machine to be exposed - and for Americans to see who screwed them and exactly how.
too funny... they just don't get it, do they?
GOPe in addition to being obnoxious is squishy whenever pressure is applied. Normally that comes from the left, but it can come from above, i.e. from Trump. Cruz plan lets Trump, via Pence, claim credit for finding away out of the RyanCare mess. Trump loves winning, enjoys the credit and especially loves receiving credit for outside the box solutions to intractable problems. This makes quite the pile of carrots Ted has left for Trump and few, outside of D.C. , will realize where credit is really due. But if it works Trump will know and will be more willing to listen to Ted. Adding a Cruz control option to the Trumpmobile may help in future crises.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.