“Reconciliation”: What Could Happen If Dems Try To Pass Joker Care Alone
What will happen if Democrats try the “go it alone” strategy to pass national health care?
That’s not even a question in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cut Republicans out of health care from the very beginning. House Democrats have been going it alone all along, and if they can agree among themselves on a health care bill, it will pass.
But the Senate is another story. Republicans see the Senate as their great hope, and there’s no doubt the GOP could do some serious damage to any Democratic bill. But Republicans have to face the fact that Democrats have the power, on their own, to pass a bill that could ultimately lead to the liberal dream of national health care.
First, the best-case scenario for the GOP. Republican staffers are studying the Senate’s arcane rules governing the process known as “reconciliation.” Those rules allow the Senate to pass some measures with a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than a filibuster-proof 60 votes. Theoretically at least, Democrats could pass a health care bill with no Republican help even if all 60 Democrats are not on board.
But reconciliation is allowed only on proposals that deal directly with the budget or are primarily fiscal in nature. So Democrats could use reconciliation to pass parts of the health care bill that have a direct fiscal effect, but not other measures creating things like health care supervision agencies. If Democrats try to pass measures that are deemed “extraneous,” Republicans could object and have the measures stripped from the bill.
That is, for example, what undoubtedly would have happened to the notorious end-of-life provisions that have now been removed from the Senate Finance Committee’s bill. In that same way, it’s possible Republicans could kill a lot of what is currently in the health care reform proposals. (In addition, any measure passed by reconciliation would be temporary, usually lasting five years.)
The prospect of a paragraph-by-paragraph reconciliation fight has led to what some Republicans call the “Swiss cheese scenario.” Each time Republicans defeat a portion of the bill, they’ll poke another hole in the Democrats’ ambitions. Poke enough holes, and the Democrats’ vaunted health care plan is Swiss cheese.
There’s no doubt that prospect scares some influential Democrats. Sen. Robert Byrd himself is opposed to using reconciliation for health care, calling it “an outrage that must be resisted.” Sen. Max Baucus calls it “not a good idea,” and Sen. Jay Rockefeller says it could create “a bill that goes nowhere.” They’re warning their colleagues not to take the go-it-alone route.
But there’s another way of looking at it. Sure, Democrats can’t get everything they want if they have to go through reconciliation. But look at health care reform as an unfinished building. There are plenty of examples of past legislation that began somewhat modestly and expanded as the years went on. The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, has been enormously expanded. Medicare and Medicare are far bigger today than when they were created. Programs grow over time as lawmakers add features and increase eligibility.
The story could be the same for the current health care proposals, through which Democrats, with no Republican support, could put in place the basic structure of a national health care plan. It doesn’t have to be gold-plated, or even finished. That could come later.
“You can build a building that’s missing certain features,” says one old Senate hand. “Maybe the plumbing’s not there, or the wiring. But the bottom line is, you have laid the foundation, and built the structure, and it becomes easier later on to add the plumbing, and add the wiring. You have set up a structure so that all you have to do in the future is make incremental changes.”
Veterans of the Senate tend to flinch from the sort of all-out warfare reconciliation could bring. But the fact is, reconciliation might in the end be the Democrats’ best option. And it might work. Democrats wouldn’t get everything they wanted, but they could create the structure for future growth. Later on, they’ll add the plumbing. And the wiring. And maybe a chandelier.
It’s precisely that scenario that most terrifies Republicans. Forget about Swiss cheese. Democrats are intent on building something much more substantial, and Republicans don’t have the votes to stop them.
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If the dims pass it without republican support, it means they own it. From that point on, they will bear sole responsibility when it fails.
I agree 100% let them go it alone. They will all be gone in 2010 and then it can be repealed. This is so assanine. For the money they are talking about we could leave current healthcare alone, eliminate the illegals and put the rest in a plan. Get tort reform and eliminate fraud in Medicare/Medicaid and come out soooo much better than what they are proposing. If any republican votes for the current crap out there now I am voting against them.
I will make a bet with anyone,lindsey gramnesty will vote for this thing,and act like he had to.
Nanny, I agree. If they pass the HC bill then we have 2 election cycles to rescind/repeal it. It won’t go into effect until 2013. Many of the Dems are afraid of that, because in repealing it, we will have voted them out.
I don’t want these pricks passing anything on HC reform, democrats or republicans. I don’t want to have government anywhere near my health care.
If this gets passed by reconciliation, then it is a declaration of war from them on the American people.
I agree Scoot, I believe they have already declared war on us low life peasants. The only problem is if this shit gets passed, it will be impossible to undo it.
Nothing is impossible, the question is do we have the Fortitude to undo it.
Roger that Scoot! I agree with you!!! This is going to be the straw that broke the camels back, besides all of the other straws that broke it!!! I have been advocating that the American people stand up and take the power out of the Governments hands and kick them all out now…this is supposed to be a country by the people and for the people, not the other way around!
http://www.912dc.org
-aTb
I swore an oath to Defend the Constitution not the Politician!
2010. What are you all doing to make sure the Dem majority is thrown out? Get involved with your rppublican groups and make certain we have strong conservatives running. Help make it happen.
I hope Peeee-losi suffocates on her own Botox rhetoric. She thinks she runs the country and THIS will be the Democ”RATS” downfall.
Hey it’s great to run your mouth on a high but how sustainable is this?
It cannot be allowed to pass.
Why do you think they support it as vehemently as they do? Very little of any of the thousands of pages in the ‘bills’ is about ‘health’ at all. It is about their “fundamental transformation” of America to Socialism.
They’ll do whatever it takes to affect that “change”.
And to hell with any Republican that aids them.
We are witnessing the destruction of the Democrat Party,by their own arrogance. As for starting their foundation for Government Health Care,
If you let an “unfinished structure” sit too long,it will self destruct.
It looks and sounds like the Dems are going to hang themselves. And the Dems who do not agree with their plan, are going to go down with them. I think my husband could be right he sees a new political party starting up. Hopfully one that takes in consideration our children futures.
This should reck the dems for years to come, no one would vote for these assholes again, and a third party will be started, somthing the republicans, will have to contend with.
Yeah and nobody believed America would elect a Black Liberation Progressive Marxist either. The Dem Party has been taken over by Progressive Collectivists who have an enormous infrastructure of monied support.
Anybody got a good picture in their mind how splitting the Repub Party works better now than it did 15 years ago let alone fights off the Progressives of today?
Scoot Aug. 21
I concur every word with Scoot on this issue….
Two words for every man and woman in congress..”"YOUR’RE FIRED!!!”