This is THE battle right now. We need to convince the House democrats that there is NO WAY reconciliation will ever give them what they want.
Obama’s only chance at a bill is to convince the House that reconciliation is a done deal, so they will vote for a Senate bill they hate.
But once the Senate bill is passed, it’s too late — Obama has the bill he likes, and the reconciliation might only make the bill BETTER.
So the key is to make sure the house knows reconciliation won’t work. If they don’t believe they will get reconciliation, they won’t vote for the Senate bill.
One line of argument to use: The Senate will promise the house to pass reconciliation. But Reid promised 9 democrats special items in the bill in order to get their votes, and the reconciliation vote will repudiate those promises. Those 9 senators, who were sure they wouldn’t lose their promised items because they could vote down any changes, are being told their votes aren’t needed.
Well, so we know Reid either lied to those Senators, and will now screw his colleagues, or he is lying to you HOUSE members when he promises to change the bill to something the senate DOESN’T support, and that will screw his friends in the senate.
Who do you think Reid is more likely to screw over, his senate buddies he made promises to, or you house chumps who want to break his “perfect” senate bill?