Reconciliation Hits A Snag
Mar 12, 2010 Political
The process by which Congress wants to ram the health care takeover through has hit a bit of a snag. The House and Senate have not convened a conference committee to reconcile their respective bills and they do not intend to because that would require the Senate to go through its established voting procedures.
The scheme that has been devised is to use reconciliation, a process reserved for budget matters only, to pass a bill. Under the scheme, the House would have to vote for the Senate bill and then the Senate would use reconciliation to tweak the bill to please the members of the House. The problem is that once the bill is voted on by the House then there is a single, identical bill. It could be sent to Barack Obama and signed into law. This is one reason that many members of the House are not willing to vote for the Senate bill.
The House does not trust the Senate (and by extension, it does not trust Obama).
There were other schemes introduced to help ease the mistrust. The original plan to pass the bill and then tweak it is not popular because there is no guarantee the Senate would hold it until the tweaks are completed. That is now a non issue because the Senate parliamentarian has determined that reconciliation can only be used for an existing law. In other words, the Senate bill would have to be voted on by the House, signed into law by Obama and then reconciled with a simple majority of the Senate.
The House will not go for this because it does not want to take the chance that the Senate bill will become law without the changes the House wants.
So the Democrats are continuing to use convoluted logic to concoct new schemes. The House is considering enacting a rule saying that once they vote on the changes to the Senate bill the Senate bill will be deemed to have passed. In other words, they will vote for a rule change and if that rule change passes they will vote for the fixes to the bill and if that passes the Senate bill will be deemed to have passed. This would allow them to vote for what they want before they have a law to vote on.
It is likely that this is unconstitutional. And do they think Americans are so stupid that we cannot see what they are doing?
Just like Democrats though, change the rules during the game to get the outcome they want.
I have a feeling that this is going to take quite some time to work out because the Democrats are making up the rules as they go along and are doing everything, legal or not, to pass this albatross. This will likely not be voted on prior to the Easter break and if it makes it that far without getting a vote then it might not make it this year. Republicans have already indicated they will follow the reconciliation rules to the letter to keep any item that is not a budget item from passing. This means many of the fixes that the House wants will not make it through. The House Democrats, who are already uneasy, must be even more so after this latest news. They want to get this done soon because they have things to do.
Democrats have to get home to campaign for reelection. They have a lot of lies to tell and a lot of explaining to do.
Sources:
New York Post
Bloomberg
Washington Examiner
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Tags: Democrats, health care, lies, Obama, reconciliation, trust
Obama Will Do What He Was Opposed To
Mar 4, 2010 Political
I realize that campaign promises are just that and I never took Obama seriously. He is an inexperienced hack, a joke who does not know how to lead. He has a community organizer mentality in that as a community organizer he worked in a small community with no regard for money, no budget to worry about. Just organize and someone pays for it. He is an organizer in a larger community now and he still thinks that money is no problem because someone else will handle it.
We saw how he was opposed to ending the filibuster when Republicans wanted to do it. We saw how he criticized Bush for the Patriot Act and then he signed to extend it and we see him doing a number of things Bush did that Obama expressed dissatisfaction with. Obama promises come with expiration dates and he will say anything and do anything to get what he wants.
Obama told us in 2007 that getting 50 plus 1 vote was not the way to get things done. He said that they would not achieve things by getting 50 plus 1 vote. Obama even said that this kind of thinking was what Karl Rove engaged in because did not like government.
But Barry is firmly committed to using a process to get 50 plus 1 vote to pass his agenda. It is rather Rovian (by Obama’s definition) and must mean that Obama does not like government. According to his own words, he is now unable to govern. Obama specifically said that he was going to build a working majority and that he would not use the 50 plus 1 strategy to pass health care:
We are not going to pass universal healthcare with a 50 plus one strategy. We’re not going to have a serious, bold energy policy of the sort I proposed yesterday unless you build a working majority.” –Sen. Barack Obama, October 2007
Watch the video and listen closely to the jive talk. Obama is telling us what he thinks we want to hear. He is saying that he will get a working majority so he will not use the 50 plus 1 strategy that he NOW favors.
Why is Obama so hell bent on destroying his party? Why is he hell bent on doing something that so many oppose? Why will he not start over and build that working majority?
There are several reasons. He wants to impose on America social programs bigger than FDR and LBJ so that he can stake his claim in history as one of the progressive heroes. He knows that he will lose seats in November and the election of Scott Brown ushered in the reality that he could lose the majority in one or both chambers. He wants to do it now or he will not have the progressive legacy he believes is his birthright.
The other thing is that he believes that if he tanks on health care he will be seen as a failure. Republicans said this issue could be his Waterloo and now some Democrats are expressing the same thing. He is more worried about his image, his legacy and whether he is viewed as a failure than he is about America or his own party. Obama is so worried about passing his agenda that he is embracing a procedure that violates Senate rules. The way this bill has been amended and will be voted on (vote on Senate bill, add amendments and send to Obama) is not how legislation is supposed to be accomplished but none of this matters because Obama wants it done at all costs.
There are people in Congress who have been there for years who will lose their jobs this November and most of the blood will be on Obama’s hands. Some were going to lose anyway, no matter what, but there will be huge losses because of what Obama is doing. Some people who would otherwise win reelection are going to be gone because of Obama and his legacy. Others are quitting rather than be part of the bloodbath.
Of course, the best laid plans sometimes come undone. Obama has a problem with the Senate and that is why the sleight of hand. But he might lose this in the House. There are Democrats who will not vote for this and right now it looks like they will be shy a few votes. Pelosi might start beating people up or sending the mob in to break some knees but until then, the votes are not there.
[note]Note to Frank Kratovil, vote for this and you are gone and we will be welcoming Congressman Andy Harris to the 1st Congressional District.[/note]
Obama will do absolutely anything it takes to get this through. He will begin campaigning (did he ever stop) for this mess on Monday.
“Whatever it takes to get health care done,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the president’s schedule. Washington Post
And when I say he will do whatever it takes I mean legal or otherwise. He was not upset at the bribes passed around the Senate to get it through the first time and he is not above payoffs to get what he wants either:
Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he’s obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson’s brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Weekly Standard
This might just be a coincidence but I doubt it. Obama will do what it takes and he is all about Chicago style politics.
Keep an eye on Matheson because if he now votes for it then he was bribed because perception is reality.
In 2004, Kerry was for it before he was against it. Obama was against 50 plus 1 before he was for it.
Remember America, this is about control and nothing else. They need control to collapse the economy and replace it with what they want.
Let’s deny them the chance. Call your Congress critters and tell them that all the temple monkeys will be replaced if they vote for this. It is an election year, the only time they listen (or pretend to). They know we do not like it so ask them if they are willing to fall on their swords for Obama who is not up for reelection for three more years or the likes of Pelosi who is in a safe seat.
If they screw us with this we need to make them pay.
And revenge is a dish best served cold…
Thanks to:
Flopping Aces
Breitbart TV
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Tags: 50 plus 1, health care, house, lies, Obama, reconciliation, Senate
I Thought Obama Was Against Nukes
Mar 3, 2010 Political
Well, he is for us but he is happy for Iran to get them.
He is also not opposed to using the nuclear option. Word on the street is that today Obama will announce he has incorporated some Republican ideas (no serious tort reform) and that he now expects them to sign on or he will call for reconciliation (though he won’t use that word). Here is the compromise; Obama took 2700 pages of legislation and added about 30 pages of things Republicans like. So he wants them to vote for the 2700 pages they do not like in order to get 30 they will like.
That man boy is still smoking crack. He has to be. And that was the fastest six weeks in history (he did say they neded to get this done in the next six weeks).
No, Republicans will not sign on and Obama and the Democrats knew that. He held the summit to show Republicans as obstructionists and then they showed up and handed him his ass because they were prepared. America saw a party with ideas and a willingness to work together so long as they started from scratch.
Baby steps, Obama said, will not do it so it is his bill or nothing. This is beacue Obama and the Democrats need to pass something, anything, that is labeled health care before the next election. They do not want to be negotiating the bill through the next election because it will look like they failed.
If they had started last year with this summit instead of waiting until this year, there might not have been as many problems.
So now we are at the crossroads and Obama is expected to tell Republicans that they have his bill, vote on it or the Democrats will use reconciliation.
The president will call for an up or down vote on health care reform, as has happened in the past, and though he won’t use the word “reconciliation,” he’ll make it clear that if they’re not given an up or down vote, Democrats will use the reconciliation rules as Republicans have done in the past. ABC News
If this happens the Democrats will lose the House and the Senate in November. All the ACORN fraud in the world will not stop the tidal wave (but if you see ACORN fraud beat the hell out of the ACORN person doing it).
The American public does not want this bill and we are quite upset with these ninnies in DC telling us that they know what is best for us. We do not need you to spoon feed us (well, most liberals do) and we do not want you ramming this down our throats.
For a person who people claim is a smart politician Obama sure does not act like it. This guy is willing to lose control of the Congress to get this passed. He is not worried about himself because he is not up for 3 more years. But he will be a one term wonder because we will drive him out.
The provisions of this bill do not take place until after the 2012 elections. Obama will lose the majority and then he will lose the White House. Republicans will draft legislation to repeal all of this mess and if we have to, we can use reconciliation to do it. If any Democrat cries about that we can string him up for the hypocrisy.
And then the Democrat party will be irrelevant for many, many years to come.
Obama is destroying his party right along with this country.
Prepare patriots. We will need to disobey anything they legislate and we will need to exert our will on them (remember, they get their power from us).
The tree of liberty is getting thirsty.
Big Dog Salute to JPT for the picture.
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Tags: health care, lies, Obama, reconciliation
To Reconcile Or Not To Reconcile
Feb 26, 2010 Political
The health care summit was held yesterday and I don’t think Obama and the Democrats were ready for the Republicans who came ready to discuss issues. In the end the thing was a waste of time because Obama’s position was basically, here is what I want now sign on or we will have to use reconciliation.
What? Come now Big Dog. Reconciliation was addressed a number of times by Republicans and the Democrats said that no one was discussing using it. As an aside, please do not get confused between reconciliation and the filibuster as Rachael Maddow did. Harry Reid said this:
No one has said — I read what the President has online — no one has talked about reconciliation but that’s what you folks have talked about ever since that came out, as if it’s something that has never been done before.” (“Transcript: White House Health Summit, Morning Session,” Kaiser Health News, 2/25/10)
So there you have it right from Harry Reid, no one has been discussing this except the Republicans who are getting all worked up over nothing.
According to The Hill, Harry Reid was interviewed and in a posting from 2/20/10 Reid was indeed discussing reconciliation.
“I’ve had many conversations this week with the president, his chief of staff, and Speaker Pelosi,” Reid said during an appearance Friday evening on “Face to Face with Jon Ralston” in Nevada. “And we’re really trying to move forward on this.”
The majority leader said that while Democrats have a number of options, they would likely use the budget reconciliation process to pass a series of fixes to the first healthcare bill passed by the Senate in November. These changes are needed to secure votes for passage of that original Senate bill in the House.
“We’ll do a relatively small bill to take care of what we’ve already done,” Reid said, affirming that Democrats would use the reconciliation process. “We’re going to have that done in the next 60 days.”
Remember now, Harry Reid was before America at the summit and said no one was discussing this. No one was discussing it except him, Pelosi, Obama and his staff. All of these no ones have been discussing reconciliation.
So, if as Obama says, no one cares how this gets done or America does not care about the procedures, why did Harry Reid lie?
The reality is that a lot of people do not like this bill. People like parts of it but they do not like it, especially how much it will cost and all the unnecessary things that give government more control over our lives. Reid lied because he knows people do not like it and it would be real difficult for him to explain why reconciliation has been decided upon prior to the summit.
Reid is a liar and he will lose come this November.
Remember folks, never trust a Democrat. The summit was full of deception and theater so they could say they tried.
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Tags: lies, Obama, reconciliation, Reid, summit
Democrats Do Not Care About What You Want
Feb 20, 2010 Political
Let me say it up front so that the liberals can get their pink panties in a wad. Barack Obama and his Democrats do not care about what the public wants and they are not concerned about health care being provided for all. In fact, they do not want a debate on any of this and any meetings set up by Obama are window dressing. These are phony exercises so that he and his henchmen can claim they worked in a bipartisan manner. This is a ruse designed to make people think they got the message of the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts.
The administration is working on plans to merge the Senate bill with the House bill and then to pass it under the process of reconciliation which would only require a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate. This entire process is designed to bypass the proper way to do business and to ram through legislation that America does not want. The Senate is supposed to be the tough chamber and is designed to slow the process and keep sanity in government.
The health care legislation is not about health and it is not about care. It is about government control over the population and over a huge portion of our economy and Barack and his henchmen are preparing to ram it though with no regard for what the people want and with little regard for the process that governs the way things are done in the Congress. This is Chicago politics and it is not the way to do business.
The Democrats are working on a way to ram this through after they have their phony meetings with Republicans so they can claim that they worked together. The Democrats crafted the legislation they have now with the millions of dollars of graft and corruption and all the payoffs just to get this far and they will not stop because of something like opposition by the American people.
These people have a radical agenda and they want to turn America into a Socialist nation. The White House library has all kinds of books about Socialism and those books were selected by Michelle Obama.*** These people are radicals and they do not care how they get things done just as long as they get what they want. Keep in mind that Obama told us he was willing to listen to all ideas and claimed that Republicans did not offer any when in fact they did. At the Republican retreat in Baltimore Obama held it [Republican health care plan] up and said he had read it. He showed that he lied when he said that they had not offered any ideas. He will lie to get what he wants. He is a radical and must be stopped.
We need to stop them all. It is time to call the vulnerable Democrats and remind them just who it is they work for. It is time to make sure EVERY Republican votes against this mess. It is time to remind these people that they will be out of a job in November if they are a party to this.
This is not how our country is designed to work. The Democrats are crafting legislation that is opposed by a majority of Americans. Don’t fall for the claim that a majority wants health care reform because that is true but they do not want THIS reform.
If Obama and the Democrats are serious about working together they will stop lying to America and will start with a blank sheet of paper.
Some of these Democrats do not care because they are either not running for reelection or are planning not to run. We need to remind them that we will boycott anything they are involved in if they vote for this as a parting shot to America. We need to let them know that they will not be successful when they leave office if they vote for this. We need to have bus loads of people driving past their houses and showing them the same anger ACORN showed AIG employees.
In short, we need to destroy anyone who votes for this mess especially if they do it under reconciliation.
I predict that if this proceeds in this fashion the Democrats will lose the House and the Senate in November and by large enough margins that Obama will be stifled for his last two years in office.
So ignore the phony shows and watch the Obama behind the curtain because he is working on getting his radical agenda passed regardless of what you want.
Remember America, DESTROY those who vote for this.
Democrats, you dance on puppet master Obama’s strings at your own peril.
***UPDATE: Evidently the tour guide at the White House said that the First Lady selected the books for the library without mentioning that the First Lady he was talking about was Mrs. Kennedy. The person who originally reported on this took it to mean the current first lady. It would seem a tour guide might be a bit clearer.
This does not take away from the fact that the current administration is full of radicals who want to bring Socialism to our country as its form of government. The history of the Obamas is rife with their Socialist beliefs and this is what he wants to fundamentally transform this nation to.
Also notice that liberals will focus on the mistake made from a tour guide’s information rather than the actual subject of the Dems circumventing the process to pass a very unpopular piece of legislation.
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Tags: games, health care, lies, Obama, primary election, reconciliation, ruse