Inside the Dome: April 26th, 2010

April 26th, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker:

In the Senate, the cloture vote on financial reform is still scheduled for this afternoon, with no deal on the overall package worked out yet. McConnell says the GOP will stick together in voting no on cloture and rejecting Dodd’s Wall Street Takeover, in the hope of brokering a better package this week once the first cloture vote fails and Reid is forced to compromise. Sen. Lincoln’s derivative proposal, considered the most expansive and restrictive of the proposals discussed, is reportedly going to make it into the final package since it has the backing of several moderate Republicans like Snowe and Grassley. It would ban financial firms that received federal assistance from running swap desks, among several other restrictions, and could send bank stocks south.

Meanwhile, Democrat leaders have suggested they will try to move both immigration and “climate change” legislation in the comings months, somehow squeezing these issues into the mix with the annual budget and the upcoming fight on Justice Stevens replacement to the Supreme Court. Sen. Graham has threatened to withhold his support for the climate bill he negotiated with Kerry and Lieberman if Democrats move immigration reform before the climate bill. His threat prompted Kerry and Lieberman to scrap a news conference unveiling their global warming legislation.

Bottom Line: While it’s tempting to see a minor victory in the making this afternoon with the defeat of financial reforms first cloture vote, don’t underestimate Reid and his desperation (due to his reelection fight) to peel off one Republican and get to 60. Forcing the Dems to compromise on their government takeover of Wall Street is at hand… if only the moderate Republicans don’t buckle as they have a tendency to do.

In the House, several Republican congressman, all members of Republican Study Committee, are set to launch a congressional 10^th Amendment Task Force, a group “committed to taking power back from Washington and returning it to the people.” The official launch of the task force is at a rally and press conference scheduled for Thursday, May 6^th at the U.S. Capitol. Reps. Rob Bishop, Randy Neugebauer, and Mike Conaway are a few of the members involved. In an op-ed penned by Bishop last week, he argued that a correct understanding of federalism is the key to our liberty as Americans, and at the core of federalism is the 10^th Amendment to the Constitution.

Bottom Line: A concerted effort on the state and federal level to join forces with conservative and tea party activists, and educate other Americans on what the Constitution and 10^th Amendment actually says and means to them, could bear fruit in November and beyond. It’s an uphill battle, but so was the American Revolution.

At the other end of the Avenue, Obama and Senate Democrats are quietly pushing for an amendment to the financial reform bill that would establish a “health insurance rate authority,” basically allowing state regulators the power to veto healthcare premium rate increases they determine are “unreasonable.” An Wall Street Journal op-ed today discusses how this effort undermines Obama’s promise that ObamaCare as passed would “lower [healthcare] costs for families and businesses” across the country.

Bottom Line: Most of the country already knows what Obama and the Democrats fear: ObamaCare will not only fail to reduce healthcare costs, it will serve to increase costs and ration care on top of it. The truth is, Democrats cannot save themselves on this issue, even if they’re successful in passing the cost controls amendment.

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