Did McConnell really 'surrender' in health care debate?

Some commentators have accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of caving to Democratic pressure by agreeing to hold the vote on final passage of the national health care bill on Christmas Eve morning as opposed to the originally-planned 7 p.m. "Mitch McConnell Surrenders," reads one blog headline. "McConnell Weasels Out," reads another.

But according to a well placed GOP Senate source, it was Majority Leader Harry Reid who approached McConnell in hopes of holding the vote earlier, and McConnell, who was prepared to go ahead with the evening vote, got some key concessions from Reid in return for agreeing to move the vote up a few hours.

There's no doubt that McConnell, with just 40 Republican votes, holds the weak hand in negotiating with Reid. But according to the source, in exchange for agreeing to hold the vote on Christmas Eve morning instead of evening, McConnell got Reid to agree to hold a high-profile debt-limit vote next month -- just before the president's State of the Union address -- instead of burying the issue later, as Democrats had wanted. In addition, McConnell got Reid to agree to showcase a number of deficit-related Republican amendments, forcing Democrats to vote on issues they had hoped to avoid.

The Senate has still not voted on a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling. It has to do so by tomorrow, before lawmakers leave for the year. Democrats have taken hits for wanting to raise the limit by about $1.8 trillion; raising it by that amount would allow them to avoid another vote on raising the debt ceiling before next year's elections. They also hoped to hide the measure inside a conference report ...

...McConnell got Reid to agree to hold a high-profile debt-limit vote next month -- just before the president's State of the Union address...

Specter suggests Reid reneged on word.

Newly-turned Democrat Arlen Specter today hinted that that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reneged on his word to allow Specter to keep his seniority on committees on which he sits. "Sen. Reid assured me that I would keep my committee assignments, and that I would have the same seniority as if I had been elected as a Democrat in 1980," Specter said in a written statement today.

Reid Bows to Far Left as Rs Rank Judges Issue #1.

And they undoubtedly have the Rasmussen survey results in the back of their minds as they consider their reaction to Majority Leader Reid’s broken promise to confirm three appeals court nominees before the Memorial Day recess, as well as Reid’s sure-to-be-broken earlier promises to meet the historical average (17) for appeals court confirmations in a president’s final two years. With just a couple of months left in the confirmation window, Reid is less than halfway to meeting that average.
[snip]
“A good GOP Senate source reports today that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the entire Republican Conference … about the judge-fight issue. McConnell is said to have been very insistent that he would not let Majority Leader Reid's broken promise go unpunished … He would not tell the Conference exactly what action he was planning, but he did say it would be very firm, and that all concerned would know it when we see it.” – Quin Hillyer (5/21/08)
[snip]
While Sen. Lott overcame numerous obstacles to get Paez and Berzon confirmed, Sen. Reid has looked for excuses to renege on his pledge.
[snip]
GOP senators are understandably angry that Sen. Reid broke the golden rule of senatorial honor by reneging on his commitment.
[snip]

Democrats Target Coburn’s Holds

To ease passage of the public lands measure, Reid promised Coburn the chance to offer a limited number of amendments.
But after the majority leader objected to a Coburn proposal that would have eased restrictions on firearms in national parks, the package stalled for months, prompting Coburn to charge that Reid reneged on their agreement.
Coburn eventually got to offer four amendments — all of which were defeated — but not the guns measure.

Reid: No Vote On Lifting Drug Import Ban Before Health-Care Bill

Republicans accused U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of reneging Tuesday on a pledge to allow a Senate vote on a measure lifting an import ban on pharmaceutical drugs before lawmakers take up health-care legislation.
The development, supported by major drug makers, comes as the Senate is moving to craft the politically delicate compromises needed for the broader health care overhaul bill.
In a letter to a bipartisan group of senators that have been pushing for the import ban to be scrapped, Reid said there wouldn't be time in the busy legislative calendar for full consideration of legislation lifting the long-standing prohibition now.
"He did commit to us and obviously that commitment is not going to be kept," Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday evening.

-PJ

In the debt debate -- the one Democrats didn't want to have -- GOP senators are expected to offer amendments to end the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, as well as amendments on a budget-cutting package, on a deficit-control commission and other spending-related items.

"So days before the president's State of the Union, where he has said he is going to talk about getting the deficit under control, we are going to force a vote on raising the government's credit card limit because we are maxed out," says the Senate aide. "We're going to force them to vote on ending TARP, deficit control -- things they don't want to do. And it'll be on the first day back, when everybody's paying attention."

Pretty damn good, I'd say.

So did McConnell surrender? It doesn't seem so. It was Reid who wanted to leave more than McConnell, and it was Reid who gave up something in order to get an earlier vote. McConnell didn't have much bargaining power -- no leader with just 40 votes would -- but he used it to get as much as he could.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, Senator McConnell.

Thanks to the 2006 and 2008 elections, McConnell has a very weak hand. That will change next year, if conservatives do what they have to do.

While that's true, the GOP has been thinking tactically while the rats have been thinking strategically as exemplified by the healthcare fiasco. If it doesn't get stopped in the House by Stupak & Co., then I think we'll need a Divine Intervention.

It started in the 1990s after taking over Congress and thinking that if the GOP took over K Street lobbyists, then the GOP would be on easy street. It got worse with Bush and Rove's compassionate conservatism and their expansion of gov't. The GOP was supposed to take over DC for the foreseeable future. After 2004 the GOP had the Senate 55 - 45. It's more than Iraq, Katrina and corruption that they are now at the crappy end of 60 - 40. The biggest other factor explaining it, although particular races can be explained by 3rd party candidates, was spending like drunken sailors.

Then the GOP totally blew it with immigration. Amnesty was supposed to be a one time deal. Fool me once, shame on you. There's not going to be a second chance. Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans oppose giving drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. So do 68% of Democrats and 75% of those not affiliated with either major political party. There is little difference along gender, age, or income levels. IIRC, a Marist or Siena poll in NY had almost an identical result, NY of all places.

I'm not holding it against McConnell personally, but our Senate Minority Leader needs to be able to get in front of a camera like Schumer without being as obnoxious. He needs to say the rats have refused all GOP amendments for healthcare reform.

Senate pubbies have been the epitome of what's wrong with the GOP. The Senate, the world's greatest deliberative body, so they say, is emblematic of the go along to get along BS in DC. Enough is enough already. The rats are led by the hard left and their moderates are really liberals. It's worse than that with their healthcare proposals. These socialists are in bed with big pharma and the insurance companies. McConnell & Co. need to be calling them on it.

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