It seems the message that progressive Democrats got from the MA election of Brown(R) to Congress was that, even more than ever, Americans really want this health care bill shoved up their rear. It starts to make one wonder who is really running the show behind the curtain. If anything, you would assume the (D) party would regroup and try to steer back to the center on domestic issues. Obama now claims it’s all about the economy and jobs. No, that’s what the issue was when you decided that health care and cap and trade were the only issues that would turn America’s economy around. Just when you thought the health care legislation, in its current form, was dead, those progressive elements in the White House and Congress are looking at some new creative techniques to pass this socialist crap anyway.
The Washington Examiner reports Democrats have thoughts on alternative measures to pass this health care bill. Ok, remember to watch the other hand. Presidential Advisor, David Axelrod, from one side of his mouth spouts”
This president’s never going to stop fighting to create jobs, to raise incomes, and to push back on the special interests’ dominance in Washington and this withering partisanship that keeps us from solving problems.
However, the Examiner reports Axelrod in the same breath states that the MA election had nothing to do with the health care legislation and the people still want it, just proposed differently. In other words, we have made the process too transparent and now we can really take it deep into back rooms of Congress and use parliamentary tricks to pass it.
According to the Examiner
Democrats are weighing two possibilities: Pass a scaled-back version in smaller pieces, or try to move the current Senate health care bill through the House and then make changes to it through a parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation, which would require just 51 votes for passage.
However, if this goes through reconciliation, only portions of the bill can remain. A scaled down version will be less palatable for the Democrats, so that plan will probably not fly either. So what is the plan? According to a Fox News report, Robert Gibbs says
“Seventy percent of the voters in Massachusetts wanted to work with Democrats on health care reform, only 28 percent want to stop health care reform from happening. ..
OK, the message MA voter sent to the White House and Congress is to keep ramming this bill down their throats. Right! Well, since these progressive folks are hell-bent on being branded traitors, they should go ahead and completely ignore the will of the people and circumvent the Constitution as much as possible.
Newsmax reports the end-around attempt Pelosi and Reid will to get this beast of a bill passed.
Senate Democrats will go to the House with a two-part deal.
First, the House will pass the Senate’s Obamacare bill that passed the Senate in December. The House leadership will vote on the Senate bill, and Pelosi will allow no amendments or modifications to the Senate bill…Behind closed doors Reid and Pelosi have agreed in principle that changes to the Senate bill will be made to satisfy liberal House members — but only after the Senate bill is passed and signed into law by Obama.
This deal will be secured by a pledge from Reid and the Senate’s Democratic caucus that they will make “fixes” to the Senate bill after it becomes law with Obama’s John Hancock…
Reid will provide to Pelosi a letter signed by 52 Democratic Senators indicating they will pass the major changes, or “fixes”, the House Democrats are demanding. Again, these fixes will be approved by the Senate only after Obama signs the Senate bill into law.
Reid has also agreed to bypass Senate cloture and filibuster rules and claim that these modifications fall under “reconciliation” and don’t require 60 Senate votes…
This secret plan being hatched by Pelosi and Reid requires not only a pledge by 52 Democratic Senators to vote later for the House modifications. House liberals must actually believe these Senators will live up to their pledge and pass the fixes at some future date…Still, my Senate source and others in Washington believe that the liberals in the House, grasping at straws after the stunning Massachusetts defeat, will go along with the Reid-Pelosi plan to bypass a conference bill and and will ultimately vote for the Senate version without changes.
All I can read into this is that Democrats are clueless and are on a suicide pact. Hopefully, they will keep moving this bill though. Unfortunately, for a lot of these progressives, their next major move will be packing their bags and leaving Washington-only to become lobbyists and continue to assault the citizens and the Constitution of the Unites States.
