Democrats Doing Their Thing With the Baucus Bill
Yes, that was the glorious Harry Reid speaking about Republican efforts to include tort reform in the healthcare legislation. In case you missed what he was saying there; he was essentially saying that $54 billion that could be saved through tort reform was just a drop in the bucket of a $2 trillion program. Obviously Libs will say that he was talking about the healthcare industry in general terms, but it is far more likely that instead of misquoting the range of the current healthcare market, he was actually estimating the cost of the legislation he is currently working on behind closed doors.
And to that point, some may be wondering exactly what it is that Dems are doing in their exclusive sessions to merge these bills. Well unless you are in the unfortunate group of human beings with IQ’s less than 40, you certainly understand that they are in there trying to figure out three things: 1. How to include a public option. 2. How to make the new bill still appear to be the “deficit neutral” Baucus Plan. 3. How to make sure that the legislation can pass under Budget Reconciliation if they fail to reach 60 votes in the Senate.
It is the third prong there that is most troubling to me and should be the most troubling to all Americans for that matter. Budget Reconcilation or the “Nuclear Option” as some have called it, is nothing short of a power grab by the Congress. It is a move that will rewrite the rules of Congress for all of perpetuity. This is truly one of those moments where once that threshold is crossed, we can never go back.
I have no doubt that when Congress first acted upon its “powers” under the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Interstate Commerce Clause, there were people who also having similar discussions. I am quite certain that if those men and women understood the consequences of their actions for the future of this country they would have deliberated over their actions with more skepticism. If they could have known that such faulty justifications for Legislative action would have led our federal government in the form of Congress to regulate even the growing of produce in your own backyard, I have to believe that they would have exercised better judgment. If they would have realized that the Congress of the United States would someday attempt to make it a federal crime to bring a gun near a school in the name of “Commerce,” I have to believe that they would have chosen a different course of action.
So now as the Congress of 2009 sits in deliberation – or actually the Democratic leaders of the Congress of 2009 sit in deliberation, I wonder if they will be able to grasp the consequences of using Budget Reconciliation to allow the federal government to involve itself in 1/6 of the nation’s economy. I do not support this bill on any level, but I can admit that if it passes with a majority in both Houses it will be the law of the land and the only consequences will be in the polls come November 2010; but if this bill passes through Budget Reconciliation, I have to believe that this matter will be solved in the nation’s Highest Court.
(July 29, 2008 - Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America)
Supreme Court Justices are prohibited from offering advisory opinions on such matters, but I would love to pick the brains of the member of the Court to see how they would react to such an action by Congress. I have to think that many of them would quickly grant certiorari on such a case. While Reconciliation has been used in the past, it was a tool that served only to prevent partisan politics from impeding budgetary decisions that were necessary to effectuate prior legislation. The constitutionality of even those moves was tenuous at best – and has been used by both parties -but never for anything as substantive and substantial as this. With that in mind, I think the Dems are smart enough to know that they cannot force this whole thing through under the nuclear option. The political consequences alone would be a deterrent, but the threat of having it overturned by the Supreme Court would be a nightmare for Pelosi and Reid. That being said, I think they will surely have a plan B if they cannot get the votes in the Senate.
Plan B would likely be a two-part bill. Remember this lovely Democrat-controlled Senate re-wrote their rules this summer to allow it to use budget reconciliation effective October 15th. So they now have the weapon at their disposal that we thought they would try to use all along. They cannot pass all of the regulatory measures which are in no way, shape, form, or fashion budgetary under this clever little rule, so they will be forced to break the bill into two parts. This is where they will appear to be bending to the “Mighty Will of Republicans.” You have heard in recent weeks Republicans calling for “incremental” changes to the healthcare industry…this is where Dems will give them that. They will pass much of the regulatory language in one bill and then they will finance it through reconciliation without the Republicans involved whatsoever. The end result will provide cover for the Dems as they pre-empt the Constitution and appear bipartisan.
So, you may ask, how will Republicans buy into this? The short answer is they won’t and the long answer is they don’t have to. Dems can get a majority on most of this – they only have problems within their own ranks on two issues – the public option and how to pay for it. The two-step approach gives cover to those Dems on the fence because it will allow them to vote for one bill and against the other. The other side of the coin is that there will likely be Republicans who will join in this debacle. Maine Senators Olympia Snow and Susan Collins are the most likely candidates for playing along with this Pelosi Two-Step and will give the bill “bipartisanship” that the Dems will be hoping for praying for.
As this bill emerges from these closed door Democratic meetings, expect it to look nothing like the Baucus bill, but still carry its name. The CBO called that bill deficit neutral, so it is far too valuable to drop. They will take their first crack the conventional route, but if 60 votes to break filibuster appear harder than expected to come by, expect the Pelosi/Reid combo to move to plan B and the Nuclear Option.
I am rarely surprised and never blinded to the attempts of Liberals to impose on our rights with their tyranny, but this is one debate that I never expected to actualy become a reality. I shutter to think about how this will change things for the next 200 years if they use this method
The nuclear option would let any issue become a simple majority vote. Can’t these people understand that we are a Republican Democracy not a direct democracy. majority rule doesn’t rule the day in this nation. It never has and it never will. I guess I shouldnt say never
What does it take to get conservatives to stop with the conspiracy theories? Why are you all convinced that Pelosi wants to rewrite this bill? She has made no gesture that would lead you to believe she wants that. None
Id say that it takes a few reality pills for you to catch on to the fact that your party leaders are a bunch of power hungry idiots. What do you mean what leads us to believe she wants that? Who are you fooling? She has said a million times that she wants the public option. There is no public option in the Baucus plan. Therefore, she has to “rewrite” it to put one in. This isn’t calculus here buddy
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