Posted on 02/23/2010 8:02:41 AM PST by raccoonradio
Sen. Scott Brown yesterday warned the Obama administration against using the “nuclear option” of ramming through Congress a revised $1 trillion health-care bill outlined yesterday by the White House.
The administration unveiled what’s already being called “Obamacare II” - a mix of already approved House and Senate health-care legislation aimed at expanding coverage for 31 million Americans.
Obama’s plan also includes caps on excessive insurance-premium increases, similar to measures Gov. Deval Patrick proposed two weeks ago in Massachusetts.
A spokesman for Brown, whose dramatic Senate victory last month halted Capitol Hill momentum for health-care reform, said Democrats better not try to use a reconciliation strategy to pass the bill with a simple Senate majority.
Brown vowed during his campaign that he would be the crucial “41st vote” to kill reform legislation under the Senate’s supermajority-vote rules.
“If the Democrats try to ram their health-care bill through Congress using reconciliation, they are sending a dangerous signal to the American people that they will stop at nothing to raise our taxes, increase premiums and slash Medicare,” said Brown spokesman Colin Reed in a statement. “Using the nuclear option damages the concept of representative leadership and represents more of the politics-as-usual that voters have repeatedly rejected.”
While Brown’s office didn’t specifically reject Obama’s latest bill, there was no doubt Brown views the proposal as similar to earlier health-care plans backed by Democrats, even though he reached across the aisle to support a major jobs bill yesterday.
The administration faces an uphill bid to win the bill’s passage in Congress, where many Democrats were scared away from backing reform after Brown’s victory.
A spokesman for the White House said the plan is an “opening bid” for a planned bipartisan summit on Thursday.
In a statement, Patrick, whose office dodged questions about whether Obama lifted the premium-cap idea from his Democratic ally in Massachusetts, praised the president’s legislation and vowed to work for health-care reform.
“President Obama clearly recognizes health-care expansion must include cost-control initiatives to help working families and businesses that are drowning in higher premiums,” said Patrick, who was in Washington yesterday.
Socialists arguing over the spoils.
“BOSTON—The Mass. U.S. Senate seat pits incumbent Republican Scott Brown against Dem. nominee Joe Kennedy IV, the son of former Congressman Joe Kennedy. It is a close race and some feel that conservatives in this state will hand the race to Kennedy as they feel Brown is “Republican in name only”....”
Unfortunately, some conservatives would rather have a Rat than a Rino.
Hey, if he votes correctly 85% of the time, that’s way more than old Fat Teddy did, and probably above what Coakley would have.
>>Scott Brown was elected as an independent, and he is following that path of doing what he believes best for our nation and his voters back home in Massachusetts.<<
I’m toying with an idea. Even if Republicans take back Congress in 2010, we’ll be faced with the Senate filibuster and Obama’s veto pen, i.e., with at least two more years of gridlock (not a bad thing, given the present alternatives.)
Right now, middle of the road Democrats in Congress are scared stiff of their current path, knowing that many of them are likely to be voted out of office in November. Why? Because Pelosi/Reid/Obama are way too far left and refuse to govern to the center.
So, what would happen if the Dems in Congress dumped their current leadership in favor of leaders more in the “Blue Dog” vein? If they did that, Republican leadership would almost certainly sit down with them and start hammering out some commonsense solutions to the health care mess we now have. The result might be a series of bills that actually begin to attack the problem.
But for the Dems, the result would be that, while they are likely to lose some seats, they would probably retain many that they are now in serious jeopardy. For the Republicans, their ideas make it into the hopper and actually come out the other end in a palatable form. And for the rest of us, something finally gets done that isn’t in the far left Pelosi/Reid mold.
As for Obama, I have every confidence that he will sign absolutely anything he’s presented, as long as he can take credit for it. Cynical, but I think accurate.
What I really like about this is that, besides the fact that it would probably work as I’ve described (much as welfare reform occurred under Clinton once a middle ground was found after the 94 election) it clearly puts the onus on the current Democrats in Congress to make the first move and repudiate their current leadership. Maybe once they realize that 3/4 of the voters in the country would be standing and cheering them as they did so, a majority of them will actually try it.
Anyone got thoughts on this? Serious ones, not just calling me an idiot, etc., for coming up with something that might leave the Dems in control of Congress, something that might happen anyway, don’t forget.
It is very good politically that Reid got his ridiculous jobs bill past cloture. This eliminates the “Washington is broken” nonsense from the MSM and makes opposition to BOcare that much easier.
Notice that only 30 GOP senators voted against cloture. The GOP did not mount a vigorous opposition. This bill is small potatoes compared to what is coming with BOcare.
I agree with that.
It's good that kennedy is gone. OK, and I expect a little liberal-ness to placate regional voters, but no more spending was part of his platform and to say $15 billion is inconsequential and to give him a pass, IMO is still chipping away at the foundations of this country. So I guess half is better than none?
On the health care issue, Brown will support abortion, true?
Scott Brown needs to keep that in mind every day he goes to work.
After yesterday it is clear Brown will vote for a “new and improved” healtcare bill.
I don’t care about “fuming”, I care about VOTES. So far he is a disappointment. It will take more than “fuming” to change my opinion.
>>where many Democrats were scared away from backing reform after Brown’s victory.?
In a word NO.
Everywhere I go people want to know if Im just another RINO, Scott Brown
In a word YES
A Democrat who had his eyes opened. Probably against his will.
Yep I agree, you have to pick your battles. The jobs bill isn't a drop in the bucket of our debt at this point. Congress has to be seen as doing "something". Republican leadership probably doesn't want to get stuck with the "party of no" label either.
Any bill that's called a jobs bill and isn't too radical or expensive was bound to pass anyway.
>>If you insist on too much purity, you’ll have 25 pure Republicans in the Senate - who cannot do squat!
exactly
BROWN IS NOT A RINO.
I smell another Arlen Specter
Oh, FGS! The man made a decision that you disagree with and that makes him a RINO?
“The Party of No” is a badge of honor, and if they aggressively explain why in a coherent manner, a WINNING PLATFORM.
Blue Dog
Scott Brown HELPED HARRY REID to abruptly dump about $70 billion worth of tax breaks for:
- businesses and individuals,
- help for the unemployed and
- additional Medicare payments to doctors
... from a bi-partisan compromise measure unveiled by Grassley (R) and Baucus (D)
Oh Scotty Boy ... if you help HARRY, then life is going to get very hairy for you! Think before you vote!
Trust factor = 0
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