I can’t say I understand the details, but several people are reporting that after the health care summit the Dems plan to push forward with a reconciliation plan to get a health care reform bill passed.
See: Steve Benen, Ezra Klein, Paul Krugman, and Jonathan Chait.
After the reconcilation votes, if there is one, I call for “A National Time-out for Republicans!”
Like 2 year-olds, they’ll hold their breath, scream, cry, whine, and stomp their fat little feet (only after they get them out of their mouths).
I say let them.
Let them do real filibusters, Harry. Let them stand up and read the same talking points.
Let them ad-lib. I’m sure they’ll say some things that are so stupid, potentially racist, that they’ll open up the eyes of those still willing to try to see.
Then, maybe the whole country will tell them to ‘take a time-out,’ think about what they stand for, and come back and apologize.
Then, maybe, they’ll have to come up with some new ideas.
I ask again, what new idea’s have they come up with since Ronnie was a pup? NONE! It’s the same thing, tax cuts for the rich, cut spending, blah, blah, blah…
If anyone has any money, I have an idea. We make a “Chatty Conservative” doll. Pull the string, which looks like teabag string, and it’ll say:
“Tax cuts!?”
“Cut spending.”
“Socialist!’
“We’ve already got the best health care system in the world.”
“Torture works!”
We can sell it to both sides! The teabaggers will think it’s the truth. Liberals and independents can use it to mock.
We’ll make a fortune!!!
As I read up on it, this is a perfect and proper place to use reconciliation – unike the Bush tax cuts of 2001, when reconciliation was improperly used to push through what would not have gotten 60 votes in the Senate. Ahem..
The House and the Senate have passed similar but not identical health care bills. Bringing them into alignment – reconciling them, is an appropriate occasion for the legal process of reconciliation. The changes can’t be fillibustered – they are voted on and passed by majority vote.
The fillibuster prevents ‘cloture’ – the closing of discussion. The fillibuster is a declaration of the minority: “I’m not through talking about this.” The thing is – we ARE through talking about health care as a Senate bill. I don’t mean that as snark. I mean we passed a Senate bill with 60 votes. There’s no constitutional provision for the minority to turn back the clock and un-vote. It’s totlly legal and ethical – supported by precedent – to pass health care reform by reconciliation.
When we do it – we need to explain that the process is not improper – and the contents of the bill are not a ‘takeover of health care’. The components of the bill which curb abuses by the industry and set standards for what must be in a policy is not any different from the FDA making sure that standards in the food industry prevent packaging poison and calling it nutrition. There will be subsidies – so familys can afford medical insurance. And we are going to reduce the deficit with this bill. This is what the president ran on – and what we elected him to do.
Here’s a good Article on the procedure. As usual just what old Harry is up to is clear as mud. He is some communicator.
Doug Hughes brings up a good point. The wingnuts are going to scream when the Dems try to ram HCR thru via reconciliation, but it’s important to note that Bush used it too for his tax cuts, to run up massive deficits.
Rather than “reconciliation”, I prefer the term “majority rule”, as in “Democrats in the Senate are going to rely on majority rule procedures to break the logjam of obstructionist Republicans and pass long-awaited health care insurance reforms.”