Posted on 08/19/2009 11:06:38 AM PDT by BGHater
The Obama administration is looking hard at pushing through a health care reform bill without Republican backing, top Democrats close to the White House told CNN.
The Democratic majority in the Senate has been stymied in the health care debate by Republicans and conservative Democrats, leaving them short of the 60-vote filibuster-proof margin needed to pass the bill.
Democratic success could depend on an obscure tactic called reconciliation, a type of budget maneuver that requires only a simple majority -- 51 votes -- to pass.
Congressional Democrats authorized the maneuver specifically for health care reform legislation during the debate over the 2010 budget, which passed in April.
One top Senate Republican warned at the time that using reconciliation to pass such a measure would be "like a declaration of war."
Going it alone could be risky for Democrats, not because they couldn't raise the votes, but because Republicans could cast it as a power play, accusing them of failing to win bipartisan support. A Quinnipiac University survey released two weeks ago showed that 59 percent of registered voters nationwide oppose passage of health care legislation if the bill fails to win bipartisan support.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs insisted Wednesday that President Obama has not yet given up hope for a bipartisan plan.
"The president has said countless times he will work with anybody and everybody who wants to work constructively on health care reform," Gibbs said. "We continue to be hopeful that we can get bipartisan support, and we'll continue to work with those that are interested in doing that."
But moving ahead on a more partisan basis might ultimately be a strategy Democrats are willing to employ.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Tyranny and Treason committed by this White House, this Administration, and this Congress will be our battle cry come 2010 and 2012. The voice of the American people will not be silenced. We will go door to door, city to city, state to state, until these traitors are voted out of office. That is our pledge to our forefathers and our parents and grandparents. We will not lose the freedom that they sacrificed and died for. No Way!
The problem Obama has is it with Reconciliation expires soon after it starts. By then taxes will have gone up, as with the deficit and there will be pressure to CUT spending not pass huge give-aways.
I watch MSNBC regularly now and have heard Jerk liberal socialist Lawrence O Donald report that reconciliation would gut most of what liberals are trying to do in the house reform bill. Social security and medicare are golden protected programs that do NOT have to be reauthorized, completely different.
Sure liberals in the house want this for the reason you state, at any cost. This is SOOO sweet. Just keep the RINOs in check and it all falls apart.
We knew this was going to happen.
These traitors can start packing now. They’re TOAST.
You 'get it'. I will not be lectured by a bunch of morally bankrupt Marxists either.
A “declaration of war?” So who among the scads of spineless republicans would come out from under their desk long enough to actually FIGHT that war??!! We’re a hell of a lot more likely to witness a republican SURRENDER than an engagement in battle!!
Republicans need to flush this bill down the toilet where it belongs with the Whorely Koran.
There should be NO compromise on this bill, HR 3200 needs to be gone.
Most definitely. Many of them will not be there come November 2010.
I’d like a little health care reform as well, but nothing like this. They were not elected to do this type of overhaul.
These power-hungry traitors want to legalize euthanasia of selected groups of people. Comparing them to the ghouls in 1935 Germany is right on the mark.
If we " make this medicine go down" we'll get blamed for all that's wrong with the bill.
Better to let him go down with his party's nutcases - then come of with something of our own to help the 7% who are unhappy with their medical care.
I believe if the rats stay in power, some on the left will try to legalize euthanasia as they did in Oregon.
RATs will not be staying in power. Count on that.
Hey Dems,
Keep your laws off my BODY!
Yep. We’ll make sure of it.
If the rats think that they will still be in power come next November, they are in a for a very rude awaking. Maybe that will help humble them a little.
They’ve blown it BIG TIME, and all within 6 month’s time.
LOVE IT, CMS!
CSM! CSM! CMS! ;-)
LOL. I mistyped the last one. LOLOLOLOL. Sorry.
Well, not exactly. It's the so-called "Blue Dogs" who are in play, and they are subjects of Emanuel's threats to fund Democratic opponents in the primaries.
It's the Chicago way. But it's fail either way -- hope for constituents to "forget" about the vote next year, or fear the WH firehose of money directed against your re-election, supporting some other weak-knee'd Blue Dog more eager to eat out of the master's hand.
"Oh what a tangled web we weave..."
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