It’s alive! Democrats plot anew to pass healthcare
1/26, 9:25a: Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee posted this comment, which is a point well taken:
All of this talk about the budget reconciliation process is very interesting, and important in a sense, but it should not be allowed to obscure this most important fact: No health care bill can reach the president’s desk without first receiving a majority vote of support in the… House….
The Senate-passed bill (H.R. 3590), for which the White House and Speaker Pelosi are now trying to muster support in the House, contains multiple pro-abortion provisions that, if enacted, would constitute the biggest expansion of abortion ever enacted by Congress.
The focus of pro-life citizens should now be primarily on the House, not the Senate (a couple of states excepted.
For more details on the current situation, and what you can do about it, go to
www.nrlactioncenter.com/
NRLC issued an action alert this morning:
URGENT ACTION REQUEST: Each NRLC affiliate, and allied organizations, should immediately re-contact every member of a state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives, with this question: Will you vote NO on the Senate-passed health care bill (H.R. 3590) if Speaker Pelosi brings it to the House floor? (See the January 25 Associated Press story [below] for details.)
Read more at the link above.
1/25, 10:18p: About reconciliation… I was in a meeting in Washington last week at which Senator Ben Nelson spoke, and he said:
I think it could die. I doubt that. What I think is more likely is that it could be put together by the Senate and House leadership into a reconciliation bill and passed in the Senate with 50 votes and a tie-breaker by the Vice President.
But here’s one surprising guy who thinks the concept of reconciliation is completely ridiculous – Chris Matthews. Get out the popcorn and watch in humored disbelief as Matthews takes apart that creep Rep. Alan Grayson on Hardball January 22…
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
[HT: Hot Air]
1/25, 8:53p: From the Associated Press, today…
Democratic congressional leaders are coalescing around their last, best hope for salvaging President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul.
Their plan is to pass the Senate bill with some changes to accommodate House Democrats, senior Democratic aides said Monday. Leaders will present the idea to the rank and file this week, but it’s unclear whether they have enough votes to carry it out….
The new strategy is as politically risky as it is bold. There is widespread support for Obama’s goals of expanding coverage to nearly all Americans while trying to slow costs. But polls show the public is deeply skeptical of the Democratic bills, and Republicans would certainly accuse Democrats of ignoring voters’ wishes….
Obama initially voiced doubts last week that a comprehensive bill was still viable, but he now seems to be pushing for it. Asked Monday if the president was backing away from his pursuit of major changes, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs responded: “No.”…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, said last week she does not have the votes to pass the Senate bill without changes. Democratic congressional aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is in flux, said the latest strategy involves using a special budget procedure to revise the Senate bill.
The procedural route – known as reconciliation – would allow a majority of 51 senators to amend their bill to address some of the major substantive concerns raised by the House. That would circumvent the need for a 60-vote majority to hold off Republican delaying tactics….
How the new legislative strategy would work has not been fully determined. Would the House vote with only an assurance the Senate will make fixes?
One problem is that it may not be possible to resolve all the significant differences between the House and Senate bills through the special budget procedure. Only changes that affect taxes and government spending would normally be allowed to pass with a majority of 51 senators, rather than a 60-vote majority.
It’s unclear that other major disputes – for example, how to restrict taxpayer funding for abortions – could be settled similarly. On abortion, the House bill is more restrictive than the Senate version….
Abortion opponents say they will count any House vote for the current Senate bill as favoring new government subsidies for abortion. “I suggest they do it the other way around, fix it first and then pass it,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life. “Members will be held accountable for what they actually vote for. It really doesn’t do to say, `I voted for something, but I was against it.'”
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I heard on Rachel Madcow tonite that Democrat senators would like to change the rules of the filibuster. I just bet they would now that Brown is in.
They weren’t too interested in changing said rules when Democrats filibustered civil and voting rights in 1964 and 1965 respectively.
ms-nbc is the perfect situation for missy Maddcoww.
Raisehell is such a sweetheart.
I am so pleased that she found a coven that suits her after having to flee the sinking Airhead America ship.
You go girl!
yor bro ken
yor bro ken
It’s cool that the lefties just don’t get it. Obama is going to charge blindly ahead and make certain that voters can’t forget his total disconnect with America by November.
Did you enjoy Obamanator saying that over 400 boring speeches this past year were not enough to educate Americans regarding what’s good for them?
A fun video of the O “educating” primary school kids with the help of two teleprompters is easy to find. Look right…. left…. right… left… yer getting sleepy….
My new blog is being cobbled together at themorningafter.us .. Visit when you’re feeling a need for irreverent humor and a lack of regard for leftist sensibilities.
“I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,” he [B.O.]told ABC’s “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview today.
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B.O., it would be ‘good’ if you were one term president or less.
‘Mediocre’ would be a vast improvement from your dismal performance so far.
Even your progressive/liberal/humanist cohorts are unhappy with your feeble attempts at leadership.
You have been in office a year now. It is time you stopped talking and actually demonstrated some leadership.
The whole world is waiting.
You may have hit the ground running, but been running too long in the same place.
We are all waiting to see some tangible evidence of ‘progress’. One could expect nothing less from a self professed ‘progressive’.
Perhaps you should consider steppping aside and giving Joe Biden a shot at the job.
yor bro ken
All of this talk about the budget reconciliation process is very interesting, and important in a sense, but it should not be allowed to obscure this most important fact: No health care bill can reach the president’s desk without first receiving a majority vote of support in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate-passed bill (H.R. 3590), for which the White House and Speaker Pelosi are now trying to muster support in the House, contains multiple pro-abortion provisions that, if enacted, would constitute the biggest expansion of abortion ever enacted by Congress. The focus of pro-life citizens should now be primarily on the House, not the Senate (a couple of states excepted).
For more details on the current situation, and what you can do about it, go to
http://www.nrlactioncenter.com/
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee
Washington, D.C.
Libs don’t want healthcare because American are dying without it everyday. They want it to insure those who they consider unworthy of it die. The elderly, the unborn, the handicapped and those with catastrophic injuries will all be rationed (or not) healthcare at the whim of some bureaucrat.
Hi Jo Scott,
I really think it is about control. Look at the leftist dictators of the past and present. When seizing power they did what? Take over banks, industry and health care.
Contrary to popular misconception, Hitler was a socialist, not right wing. He was a lefty right there with Stalin, Castro, Mao. Like all of them he took over industry, banks, and health care.
There are some frightening parallels here. We have Obama Motors, he’s going to levy a tax on the banks to make them “pay back” the American people, and he is determined to take over health care. Obama seems almost possessed.
Oh and his minions in the senate want to change filibuster rules now that Scott Brown is there.
Dictators also change the rules as they see fit.
Very very frightening parallels here.
“You have been in office a year now. It is time you stopped talking and actually demonstrated some leadership.”
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Good point, Ken. He was voted into office to FIX the problems he inherited from Bush. 1 year later, he’s done nothing but ADD to the problem and blame the previous administtration.
Once he took the Oath, it’s now HIS problem…what part of ‘Command Responsibility’ does he not understand?
Hi RSD and Ken,
Another trait of a true leader is one who takes responsibility and does not incessently whine about the “mess” his predecessor left.
Note to Obama: ALL presidents have inherited messes. Its the job. Did FDR whine ad infinitum about inheriting the Depression? Did Nixon whine ad infinitum about inheriting the Vietnam War? How about Reagan when he inherited Jimmy Carter’s mess?
These men acted like leaders and took responsibility for whatever occured under their watch. I’m not saying I liked them as presidents necessarily, but only point out they did take responsibility for their watch.
So true, Mary….then again, what did the great and powerful Obama accomplish while he was a ‘community organizer’?
Just to make it clear…I’m not dissing community organizers as a whole, just this one.
Prolife commercial for Super bowl.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-gutsiest-qb-in-the-super-bowl-may-be/
Tebow’s mom was told to abort him.
Noah Webster said, “If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes.”
Noah Webster also said, “When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty.”
The other Webster, Daniel Webster, also said some pretty good stuff: “If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect His Commandments…we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country;… But if we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority; violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”