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Obama to write Health Care Bill & use reconciliation - What about the Byrd Rule?
The Examiner ^ | Feb 20, 2010 | Victoria Nicks

Posted on 02/20/2010 7:20:02 AM PST by Clairity

According to the Associated Press, President Obama intends to write his own version of the Health Care Legislation, and attach it to the budget, using a procedure called reconciliation to eliminate the need for any Republican votes.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Byrd Rule, named for Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia could quickly derail the President's attempt to pass Health Care Legislation through budget reconciliation. The Byrd Rule, adopted in 1985, states that any provision or amendment of a budget reconciliation bill that any Senator decides is "extraneous" would automatically be stripped from the bill if there are not 60 votes saying that it should stay.

(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: byrdrule; healthcare; obama; obamacare; reconciliation
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To: Jim Noble

There are two derailing items that leave reconciliation neutered: The Byrd Rule and the fact that any senator can also bring up any new amendment to the bill.

The Byrd rule can be enacted by any senator....any single senator can object to any part of the bill and have it removed....and the only way it get reinstalled is for 60 votes to override the removal. The final vote may only need a simple majority...but before you get there every single item can be challenged and you need 60 votes for it to stay in the bill. Can you imagine a 60 vote tally on every single element of Obamacare? If it ever gets to reconciliation, I hope that some republican objects with line one of the first page of this goat rodeo.

The second element to stretch this out for months is that any republican senator can add any amendment to the bill...and now it would be up to the democrats to object to that amendment and have it removed....and another 60 vote tally would have to be taken to see if it stayed or was officially removed.

Can you imagine how many 60 vote tallys could come out of a reconciliation activity if the republicans are objecting to everything already in there and the democrats are objecting to any new republican amendments?

This whole deal is to provide air cover for the democrats who can now say they tried.....they asked for a republican plan (note they have already pulled their plan together without any republican input). And when the Republicans do show up with something (I hope they put something forward with some real meat)....it will probably be shunned by Obama.....

My bet is that it dies a slow death......and never goes to reconciliation.....there is a real good chance that Nancy does not have the house votes any more anyway....but rattling their reconciliation sword says that they did everything they could, but those nasty republicans did not play......

Otherwise how do you defend that you had the house, the senate and the White House and got NOTHING done? They are in full recovery mode...trying to paint a good a picture as possible before the 2010 November tsunami that is approaching....


21 posted on 02/20/2010 8:32:31 AM PST by 2010Freeper
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To: tobyhill

“5 years all the so-called benefits and taxes die....”

there ARE NO benefits....at least scheduled until 2014...this is a TAX BILL...(retroactive to January 01, 2010) and it is critical to the fall elections...without it...they haven’t the cash to put on the street for the balance of the “stimulus” packaged they need to GOTV with ACORN and SEIU


22 posted on 02/20/2010 8:35:32 AM PST by mo
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To: Clairity

I believe that that the Byrd Rule isn’t as helpful as some might think. This is from wiki:

“Any senator may raise a procedural objection to a provision believed to be extraneous, which will then be ruled on by the presiding senator. A vote of 60 senators is required to overturn the ruling.”

Thus, a Republican Senator may raise a procedural objection, but it is the Senator who is currently sitting as the President of Senate (always part of the majority party) who rules whether or not the provision is actually extraneous.

To overule the ruling from the chair (which will always be a Democrat during the period that this bill might be considered), there must be 60 Senators voting thusly, to overule.


23 posted on 02/20/2010 8:48:43 AM PST by sitetest ( If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: originalbuckeye

I republicans can stall it and drag it out for a few months then the dimocrats can see that they will not win re-election if they vote for it and will vote to save their jobs?


24 posted on 02/20/2010 8:49:56 AM PST by tiki (True Christians will not deliberately slander or misrepresent others or their beliefs)
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To: xkaydet65

Exactly. The fact that the Dems would even try this bluff tells you what they think of the members of the senate. They actually believe they can apply more pressure through threats and bribes than the pressure the American people are putting on the members of congress right now.

They’ve been drinking too much of their own kool aid.


25 posted on 02/20/2010 8:52:42 AM PST by NotSoModerate
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To: cricket

It sounds to me that obama is trying to become dicktator (intentional) of the U.S.


26 posted on 02/20/2010 8:52:45 AM PST by tiki (True Christians will not deliberately slander or misrepresent others or their beliefs)
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To: Clairity

bm


27 posted on 02/20/2010 8:55:24 AM PST by Para-Ord.45
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To: sitetest
I would not believe anything from Wiki !

That site is garbage and full of half truths and lies on dozens of topics. And a Lefty runs it.

28 posted on 02/20/2010 9:05:18 AM PST by ncalburt (San Fran Nan , Your Harvey Milk was gunned down by a fellow Dem-RAT)
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To: Clairity
We who are against this bill have a real fight on our hands. The dems will use every trick, legal and illegal, to win this battle. The dems do not care about ethics, morals, nor legality at all. They never have. The end justifies the means, period!
29 posted on 02/20/2010 9:09:50 AM PST by rawhide
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To: AU72

I agree. McConnel is as close to being a Rino as you can without declaring yourself as one. He has no backbone at all. He always caves in. We need a Sen. DeMint to lead this party in the Senate.


30 posted on 02/20/2010 9:11:14 AM PST by rawhide
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To: tiki
It sounds to me that obama is trying to become dicktator (intentional) of the U.S.

No doubt about it. It is his preferred MO for using power. Put nothing past these folks as they continue to usurp power and reinvent our Constitution or just trash it altogether. They are patient; and they are determined; and they are ruthless. Count nothihng out for 2012. And they have no intention of giving up the gound thus far taken and the power seat they hold.

31 posted on 02/20/2010 9:16:50 AM PST by cricket (Proud to be the 'Party of NO')
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To: hondact200

Good find, thanks for mentioning it.

What happened in Latin America can happen here.

I put the title you mentioned into Google and found the same article on a web page.

Here is the link for those interested (sorry the title is in caps on the page, I am just copying and pasting):

PRESIDENTIAL COUPS D’ETAT AND REGIME CHANGE

IN LATIN AMERICAN AND SOVIET SUCCESSOR STATES

by Maxwell A. Cameron

Associate Professor

School of International Affairs

Carleton University

http://vm.uconn.edu/~kingston/Cameron.htm

Here is the Abstract:

What safeguards democracy when the demos allows its own voice to be silenced? In Latin American and Soviet successor states this problem took a novel form in the 1990s: that of the self-inflicted presidential coup d’ètat, or autogolpe. In Peru, Guatemala, and Russia, presidents closed congress, suspended the constitution, and sought to rule by decree until referenda or new legislative elections could be held to ratify a regime with broader executive powers. Three contrasting traditions of democratic theory are assessed in light of autogolpes: electoral, liberal, and deliberative democracy. Each offers a different lesson on the implications of autogolpes for electoral competition and parties, legislative-executive relations, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, civil-military relations, and the powers of the presidency. Based on this assessment, the article concludes that more scholarly attention must be given to the quality of democracy, its institutional diversity, and the complex connections between different attributes of democratic regimes.


32 posted on 02/20/2010 9:17:53 AM PST by SmartInsight
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To: Clairity

Of course they think there is a way around the Byrd rule and it is simply 3 words. “You are overruled.”


33 posted on 02/20/2010 9:23:14 AM PST by scannell
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To: sitetest

Well when the Pubs are back in control can we use this same rule to reverse health care and make the Bush tax cuts permanent via “reconcilliation?”


34 posted on 02/20/2010 9:26:55 AM PST by scannell
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To: rawhide
I agree. McConnel is as close to being a Rino as you can without declaring yourself as one. He has no backbone at all. He always caves in.

McConnell is not perfect. But IMO he gets something of an unfair rap here. If he always caved in, Obamacare would be law.

35 posted on 02/20/2010 9:43:59 AM PST by freespirited (Congratulations Senator Brown. One down, 59 to go.)
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To: freespirited
McConnell is holding the GOP together on almost every issue...that is impressive.

And the fact that Guantanamo Bay has not closed and probably won't is largely due to him.

I'm glad he's in charge at the moment.

36 posted on 02/20/2010 10:22:07 AM PST by what's up
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To: Clairity

By by Byrdy...dead as a dodo...


37 posted on 02/20/2010 11:01:28 AM PST by spokeshave (Blaming a gun for a crime is like blaming a carpenter's hammer for a shoddy construction job!")
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To: Clairity

I wish I knew Senate rules or where to look them up. I think now would be a very good time for anyone who knows them to comb through and find anything to stop this!


38 posted on 02/20/2010 11:19:09 AM PST by chris_bdba
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To: Clairity
Rename, repackage, rewrite it a tad smaller, and sell another pig in a poke.

Tennessee has joined several other states in trying to pass a Health Care Freedom Act. 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)

New Dem mantra: Woof, woof eat dog food granny....ala let them eat cake.

Obama's War on Seniors

Friday, February 19, 2010

Obama says slight fix will extend Social Security

http://townhall.com/news/us/2010/02/19/obama_says_slight_fix_will_extend_social_security

Socialized Med Thread

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

http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/hcva09/hcva110609-1.htm

Bill Would Restrict Veterans’ Health Care Options 11/06/09

Buyer and McKeon Offer Amendments to Protect Veterans and TRICARE Beneficiaries

Congress plans to block Tricare fee increases
http://www.armytimes.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.

Snip

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.

Snip

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.

Bambi doesn't keep his promises...so buyer beware

39 posted on 02/20/2010 12:43:15 PM PST by GailA (obamacare paid for by cuts & taxes on most vulnerable Veterans, disabled,seniors & retired Military)
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