Posted on 03/06/2010 2:57:22 PM PST by ricks_place
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) has warned that he and other pro-life Democrats are ready to kill health-care legislation unless the pro-abortion provisions enacted by the Senate are removed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must win their votes to pass her bill. To do so she will have to promise two things: first, to fix the provisions they oppose in a reconciliation bill; and second to get an iron-clad commitment from Senate Democrats they will vote to sustain whatever deal she makes.
The problem for Stupak and his allies is that such a guarantee is not enough to ensure their position prevails -- because Senate Republicans are gearing up to use something called the Byrd rule to blow up any deal Pelosi cuts to pass health care in the House. And in the end, that would be just fine with Pelosi. She wins either way. Here is how:
In order to get a reconciliation bill with the fixes they demand to the Senate floor, Stupak and his pro-life colleagues must first vote to pass the original Senate health care bill -- including the abortion language they oppose. Only after this bill is passed in the House can the chamber then take up a reconciliation bill and send it to the Senate for its approval.
...Thats where the Byrd rule comes in.
...Republicans intend to raise points of order against the reconciliation package.
...If this happens, the amended reconciliation bill would go back to the House , where Stupak and others would then likely oppose it. Reconciliation would be dead.
...That would be fine -- except for one small problem: Stupak and his allies will have already voted to pass the original Senate bill, which Pelosi could send to the president at any time for his signature. And that would suit President Obama and Speaker Pelosi just fine.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
I long for the days when they just voted...this manipulation now called gaming is nerve wrecking
With her, ideology prevails over national security and over the ability of her grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's liberty as individuals.
When are there going to be enough Democrats to stand up for their posterity, cast off this Far Left agenda, and be remembered as statesmen and stateswomen? Or, is that possible?
Now that the Post has laid it out for everyone to see, how can Pelosi now “game” it. Everyone knows what the game is.
Prior to 2000 it was clear that the national press would accept any Democrat statement as true with false statements left unchallenged. Al Gore tried to game the 2000 election and the national press not only accepted that awful tactic; the press demanded that it continue. Democrats discovered the new gaming tactics could be employed with impunity, Democrat Governor of Washington 2004, Al Franken 2008. Gaming won Obama the Democrat nomination and maybe the Presidential election. So do not be shocked if Obama Health Care is gamed into existence.
Yeah, I'll believe the dims will stop this when I see it. How many voted against this the first time. How long did it take the dims to put abortion back in the bill? Liars and deceivers all of the dims.
How can you trust anyone who has already been consistently claiming that abortion support isn’t in the bill in the first place?
Nancy Pelosi can promise no abortions or a trip to the moon on Health Care but ultimately it is not even in her sole power. It would not be as if she broke her word as it is out of her control.
As I posted in another "reconciliation thread", that is the $1,000,0000,0000,0000 question.
There are a couple of things that are new in this article, at least to me. They may be true. They may not be.
Thiessen states
"Only after this bill is passed in the House can the chamber then take up a reconciliation bill and send it to the Senate for its approval.
If so that means there can be no official action by the Senate that could be used to reassure the Stupak Group. If so, that's good. They will have to make their decision based on good old Harry' Reid's promises.
Also, he states that the Bill must originate in the House. That's news to me. But the rules of how it is handled I believe lie in the Senate and they are quite strict. If so anything in the House bill could be trashed by a wave of Joe Biden's hand. All the more reason for the Stupak Bunch to be wary of a deal.
Then add to that the Republican threat to turn the whole reconciliation process into an endless debate and one would think that any rational person, or even a Democrat, could see that there is really no guarantee here that the abortion language will ever make it through the system. And if reconciliation fails then the Stupak Gang gets to go tell their respective Town Hall meetings how Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi made complete asses of all of them.
You can't trust a faux-Catholic who promotes and supports abortion (aka "the right to choose"), and is a committed liar.
He reasoned with the audience that (paraphrased) "even if the bill contains some undesirable funding for abortion, the overall greatness of the bill for most Americans would overwhelm the minor negative clause on abortion".
To think this Rat, or any other won't cave is naive.
They are playing politics. Not one of them cares that they are killing this country by leaving the people no choice.
If they promise Stupak that, will he go along? Theres the question of the moment
No. Pelosi is purging the Democrat Party of Democrats. This is Spy vs. Spy, a la "Mad" magazine of old.
From "Dr. Zhivago" "First the Reds. Then the Whites. Then the Reds again."
I’m not convinced that Uncle Joe would overrule the Parliamentarian. It’s essentially unheard of, and Joe is nothing if not a creature of the Senate. He’s spent > 30 years there.
He might wimp out and have someone take his place on days when he knows hot issues are coming up.
I believe Rockefeller did it in 1975
A promise from politicians? What's that worth?
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