Senate Sneaks Key Health Care Vote While You Sleep
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has set the stage for a major vote Monday morning at 1:00 AM – one that would require the support of 60 Senators. That would, if all goes according to Senator Reid’s plan, set up a late-night Christmas Eve vote on final passage. Senator Reid also used a rare procedure to block any further amendments from being offered, debated or voted upon.
When it comes time for Senators to cast their vote at 1:00AM Monday morning, shortly after Sunday Night Football ends and most Americans are in bed, they will have had less than 38 hours to understand a 383-page amendment that introduces several new concepts into the health care debate, including:
-- A scheme that gives the Office of Personal Management immense power in administering what amounts to a multi-state public plan;
-- How much a state “opt-out” of abortion coverage in the legislation erodes the long-standing Hyde-amendment;
-- The budgetary impact of ELIMINATING the physician reimbursement fix; and,
-- Multiple new taxes, federal regulations and sweet-heart deals aimed toward certain states like Nebraska.
It is important for Americans to understand the process being used by the Senate. Barring any procedural snags (of which there are many in the Senate’s complex rules and precedents), the debate is likely to play out as follows:
-- Monday, 1:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture (i.e. end debate) on the manager’s amendment. 60 votes are necessary.
-- Tuesday, 7:00 AM – Vote to approve the manager’s amendment. A majority vote is necessary.
-- Tuesday, 8:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture on the original Reid substitute amendment (the 2,000-page bill). 60 votes are necessary.
-- Wednesday, 2:00 PM – Vote to approve the Reid substitute amendment. A majority vote is necessary.
-- Wednesday, 3:00 PM – Vote to invoke cloture on the underlying bill. 60 votes are necessary.
-- Thursday, 9:00 PM – Vote to approve the underlying bill (i.e. the Senate’s version of Obamacare). A majority vote is necessary.
Last January, President Obama told his senior staff that “transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” Now, an unconstitutional health care proposal that was drafted behind closed doors and poised to be approved while Americans are not looking will become the touchstone of his presidency. Surely this was not what the American people signed up for.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
Let the people see the epic failure ObamaCare actually is, start collecting burdensome taxes from those making under $250,000 contrary to Obama's promises.
Pass it against the advice of prominent liberal voices such as Howard Dean and Kieth Olbermann. Pass it and wrap it pretty for the insurance companies like the gift it is. I suggest a blue ribbon since it is the first bill of its size and scope that'll pass with a 100% partisan Democrat vote ever in the history of America.
Pass it and take full responsibility for its contents.
Pass it and open wide because since you shoved it down our throats in 2009, we'll be returning the favor in in 2010, then again in 2012 .
Please ignore the will of the American people and pass this bill. Republicans will enjoy the gift.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
From Poundstone's "Gaming the Vote":
"We have a left-of-center party in power about half the time and a right-of-center party in power the other half of the time. Once a party gets voted in, it makes some changes, and the winners think things are going great. Problems are blamed on the foot-dragging opposition. The other half of the country nitpicks the new political era, delights in its failings, and scemes to recover power.
Eventually the pendulum swings the other way. And even that's not so bad. Ralph Nader was candid enough to admit what many on the left and right must feel inside. When you're on a mission from God, it sometimes helps to have the 'bad guys' in power."
pp. 276-78
He wrote that even before the Obama presidency, and look how well it maps what's been going on. (ie, from liberals crying about bush to conservatives crying about obama , all while secretly relishing the nobility of the underdog feeling and "scheming" to return to power).
good book by the way, it is a non-partisan (well, as far as I can tell anyways) book about the American voting system and why it favors a two-party setup as described above.