In the Senate, parliamentarian Alan Frumin is getting a great deal of attention of late, with literally the fate of the country at stake on how he rules on provisions within the Democrats healthcare reconciliation package.  Republicans are expected to show a united front of opposition to ObamaCare and will vote as a block to support every possible point-of-order against the bill.

Banking Committee chairman Dodd is expected to unveil his financial reform bill this afternoon, a package some expect to create concerns on both sides of the aisle. One provision rumored to be included that’s certain to anger conservatives is the creation of the much maligned consumer financial protection agency within the Federal Reserve.

Bottom Line: While there will undoubtedly be a great struggle against the reconciliation bill in the Senate, if it gets to that point, the reality will be that the bulk of ObamaCare will have already passed the House and on its way to Obama’s desk. Defeating reconciliation in the Senate will only alter ObamaCare, not defeat it. Thus, House Dems must be made to realize any deals they make trading their vote for reconciliation provisions may not come to fruition.

In the House, the Budget Committee released a 2,309 page healthcare “fix” package last night intended to serve as the base bill for reconciliation in the Senate. The bill will reportedly be modified substantially during markup in the Budget Committee (today at 3pm) and the Rules Committee (later this week) before coming to a vote on the House floor.

The real battle of ObamaCare rests in the House, where a furious fight is raging in districts across the country.  Millions of advertising dollars will be spent in the coming days, particularly within those Democrat member districts who voted against the healthcare bill in the House last year, and in districts where pro-life Dems voted yes last time but are now leaning No.

The “Slaughter Solution” – where the House would “deem” the Senate healthcare bill passed within the rule bill for reconciliation (thus avoiding a direct vote) – is still being discussed by Pelosi as a viable option.  Republicans are outraged and view this is just another gross perversion of the democratic process by Pelosi and Hoyer in order to force their will on the American people.

Bottom Line: Pelosi, Hoyer, and literally hundreds of Democrat lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol are woefully underestimating the level of anger and disgust among Americans over their attempts to pass a government-takeover of our healthcare system.  With a final vote imminent, now is the time for any American who feels strongly on the subject to let their voice be heard with their member of Congress… and not to forget the actions of their elected representative come November.

At the other end of the Avenue, less than a week after Obama called on Congress to strip out the sweet-heart deals from the healthcare package, the AP is reporting that he’s backed down. Obama’s senior advisor David Alexrod has suggested that only state-specific deals be eliminated now. This would effectively leave intact dozens of deals cut by members, such as Dodd’s $100 million hospital, though the location would now be “determined” by the health secretary.

WH spokesman David Gibbs hit the Sunday talk show circuit and claimed ObamaCare will be signed into law in the next couple weeks. On Fox News Sunday, Gibbs claimed, “We’ll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week.  And I think whoever sits here this time next week, you all will be talking about health-care reform not as a presidential proposal, but as something that will soon be the law of the land.”

Bottom Line:  The current tactics being employed by Obama to pass ObamaCare – utilizing reconciliation, the “Slaughter Solution”, buying vote with taxpayer funds, and other sordid schemes – can be accurately described as arrogant, brazen, and unabashed. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of all of this is that Obama and the Democrats believe the American people are stupid, and will not realize the perversion of democracy that is taking place.  A reckoning is sure to come, and November may just be the beginning.

In the Senate, the Parliamentarian, responding to questions posed by Republican leadership, has ruled that Obama must sign the Senate-passed healthcare bill (if it were to pass the House) before the Senate can vote on the “side-car” reconciliation bill.  This would effectively kill the “Slaughter Solution” posed recently that would “deem” the Senate-bill passed and move the reconciliation bill to the Senate for action.

It also significantly complicates Pelosi’s efforts to lock down wavering Democrats, particularly those with abortion funding concerns, since there is now no way to ensure that any “fix” to the Senate-bill would be enacted before the Senate-bill is signed into law. There is deep mistrust of the Senate among House Democrats this Congress, so this development makes it even more difficult to sway skeptical Dems. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a former House member, referencing this skepticism, stated, “They just need to trust that we’ll do it right and I think enough of us talking to them will help them to do that.”

Bottom Line: The Senate parliamentarian’s ruling is the single biggest setback yet to Obama and the Democrats in their year-long attempt to pass the massive, government-dictated healthcare reform package. Reid and Pelosi have proven recalcitrant on this issue and are unlikely to relent until every conceivable possibility (however unpopular it may be) has been extinguished.

In the House, the GOP Caucus passed a unilateral ban on earmarks by a voice vote yesterday, applying to the remainder of the 111^th Congress. Drawing a bright line of distinction between the current Democrat leadership and the most recent appropriations cycle which produced over 10,000 earmarks totaling $19.6 billion, Republicans have moved swiftly to approve a moratorium on all earmarks right before the annual appropriations process begins in earnest. Unlike the recent move by House Appropriations Chair David Obey to prohibit earmarks going to for-profit companies, the GOP moratorium applies to any and all earmarks.

Leader Boehner applauded the move, stating, “The earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington.  Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we’re serious about reform.”  Conference Chair Mike Pence added, “By standing in favor of a moratorium on earmarks…Republicans are making a clean break from the past…and a fresh start on spending in Washington.”

On the healthcare front, Rep. George Miller announced that the “side-car” (or “fix” or reconciliation) package being cobbled together in the House will now include a controversial student loan bill. Miller stated, “That’s how the reconciliation will come from the House… that’s going to be done.”  Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad responded by stating “I think it threatens the healthcare bill.  It would threaten to sink them both.”

Also, Pelosi and Hoyer have apparently decided to concede that they cannot win over pro-life Democrats with a proposed fix to the Senate-passed bill language under reconciliation, opting instead to try and woo enough other Democrats that originally voted Nay on the House bill to switch their vote on the Senate bill. Responding to questions asking if the Senate bill could pass without the pro-life Dem votes, Hoyer said, “We’re working at it and I think the answer is yes, I think we can.”

Regarding the economy, the Congressional Black Caucus had a meeting with Obama yesterday at the White House and took him to task for “not doing enough” for blacks and the poor. Rep. Jesse Jackson stated before the meeting, “While I respect President Obama, delivering victories for his political future should be the least of our worries on Capitol Hill,” a thinly veiled reference to Obama’s near constant push on healthcare reform. Senior WH aide Valerie Jarrett took a few jabs from CBC members as well. Jarrett has apparently canceled lunch plans with the CBC eight times and is slow to return their calls.

Bottom Line: As Pelosi and Hoyer abandon their attempts to cajole pro-life Dems to vote for the abortion-funding Senate bill, it is extremely difficult to see how they move the necessary 10-15 Nay votes to the Yea column they’ve lost in the process, especially considering they’re already down at least four votes due to retirements and deaths since the original vote.

At the other end of the Avenue, in an apparent sign that Obama is starting to seriously question the possibility of ObamaCare passing the House, he had WH spokesman Robert Gibbs soften his self-imposed deadline of March 18^th.  Yesterday Gibbs stated, “Our hope is to get this done as soon as possible.  If it takes a couple extra days after a year, it takes a couple extra days.”  Obama also just announced the unusual step of delaying his trip to Asia to focus on healthcare, and is now planning on leaving the 21^st.

Obama also announced the charities that will receive the booty he was awarded for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year, dolling out between $125,000 to $250,000 to ten different charities, including donations to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, the United Negro College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the American Indian College Fund, and AfriCare.

Bottom Line: Obama is apparently content to deviate from his “number one priority” of jobs and the economy on a daily basis at this point, though given the current state of ObamaCare and no more Nobel Prize money to award, he may have ample time in the near future to discuss the stagnant employment figures and more government social spending that’s presumably coming. Republicans contend Obama’s willingness to hastily delay is long-scheduled trip to Asia is a sign of desperation.

March 11th, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker:

In the Senate, Minority Leader McConnell released a letter yesterday afternoon signed by all 41 GOP senators pledging to vote in favor of stripping any provision from the healthcare reconciliation bill that violates the Byrd rule. This essentially means Republicans are committed to vote as a block to remove any policy changes in reconciliation, even if they agree with the change, such as fixes to the abortion funding or immigration language.

Though the letter was addressed to Sen. Reid, the real target is Pelosi and wavering House Democrats, aimed at sending them a clear signal that any “deal” they are offered by Pelosi and Reid to “fix” the abortion funding language in the Senate-passed bill will be defeated in the Senate.

Interestingly, Rep. Bart Stupak, author of the “Stupak amendment” and defacto leader of the “Stupak 12” in the House, made it clear this week that he would not accept any promise of a future fix in exchange for his vote, stating, “If they say we’ll give you a letter saying we’ll take care of this later, that’s not acceptable because later never comes.”

Bottom Line: McConnell’s assumption in this strategy is that the chair would not overrule a point of order, thus the 41 votes would be enough to sustain the chair’s ruling (Biden can only vote on a 50-50 tie). Furthermore, if it got to that point, this means every pro-life GOP member would vote against language that would prohibit federal funds for abortion. Thus, the gambit is that this will be enough to kill the bill in the House.

In the House, Rep. Louise Slaughter, chairwoman of the powerful House Rules Committee, has reportedly come up with a way to move the Senate-passed healthcare bill in the House without actually putting it to a vote. Slaughter has proposed to craft a rule for the corrections (reconciliation) bill that would “deem” the Senate-passed healthcare bill as passed in the House. Thus, once the rule on the corrections bill was passed, both bills would be passed and the corrections bill would simply have to pass the Senate by a simple-majority.

This maneuver would essentially make the vote on the rule as a vote to pass the Senate version of ObamaCare, though Democrats would argue it was just a procedural vote.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that Pelosi will begin walking her members through the major provisions of the final “fix” package today. The package is not yet finalized, though Pelosi claimed what is left is “minor, mostly technical things.”

Bottom Line: As controversial as utilizing reconciliation to pass ObamaCare is, Slaughter’s proposed move is explosive, and will likely backfire if attempted. Slaughter and Dem leadership would be banking on this issue being too complex to understand for the average voter and therefore worth a shot as their last chance at passing ObamaCare.

At the other end of the Avenue, Obama is reportedly pushing Reid to strip the specific deals that were inserted into the Senate package to appease certain senators, including but not limited to the “Cornhusker Kickback” and the “Louisiana Purchase.” Politico is reporting that Obama has asked Reid to remove deals by senators from at least five other states.

This would presumably weaken Reid’s hand in pushing moderate members in his caucus to support the final fix package, but there is enormous pressure from Obama and Democrat leaders on every Democrat to just tow the line on healthcare at this late stage regardless of what’s in the final package.

Also, WH spokesman David Gibbs is relentlessly pushing the 18^th as a deadline for a vote in the House, stating yesterday, “We still believe here in the White House a vote next week as early as the 17^th or the 18^th.” Meanwhile, Obama continues to crisscross the country selling ObamaCare, giving a nod to the economy and jobs by stating that passing ObamaCare is the best thing for the economy.

Bottom Line: Desperate times call for desperate measures, which is vividly on display this week. Obama is effectively doing a 180: after an entire year of choosing not to weigh in or even so much as comment on the special deals and payoffs in ObamaCare, now he gets religion and asks Reid to strip the special deals. This may be a story of too little, too late, too bad. ]]> http://washingtonalert.org/2010/03/inside-the-dome-for-march-11/feed/ 0 http://washingtonalert.org/2010/03/inside-the-dome-for-march-10th/ http://washingtonalert.org/2010/03/inside-the-dome-for-march-10th/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:02:41 +0000 Adam Bitely http://washingtonalert.org/?p=2595 From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker:

In the Senate, McConnell has stepped up his criticism of the expanded $100 billion jobless benefits package recently passed by the Senate, attempting to sow seeds of discontent with the more fiscally minded Blue Dog democrats in the House.  Saying the bill “undercuts the entire point of reform,” McConnell is sending a clear message to wavering Democrats in the House, reminiscent of the simultaneously messaging he’s sending out on healthcare that pro-life Dems cannot trust the Senate to protect abortion “fix” language in reconciliation.

Also, the scaled back $15 billion “jobs” package was amended and passed by the House (increasing federal subsidies for Build America Bonds), so now it returns to an uncertain future in the Senate.

Bottom Line: The entire healthcare debate hinges on reconciliation and abortion, and the two issues are interwoven and inseparable.  An increasing number of Republican members, including Sen. Johanns in a floor speech on Monday, are bluntly warning prolife House Democrats that the Stupak language barring federal funds for abortion cannot be passed through reconciliation. Point being, don’t accept any deal, ‘cause it ain’t gonna happen.

In the House, the latest effort by Republican leaders in both chambers to kill the Senate-passed version of ObamaCare, as referenced above, is to convince the “Stupak 12” pro-life Democrats that any “deal” they are offered to insert Stupak-like language on the Senate side is non-starter and must be rejected, since it won’t pass a Byrd point-of-order under reconciliation in the Senate. This would mean, of course, that Republicans in the Senate would be united in voting to uphold a point-of-order against keeping Stupak language in the reconciliation bill (if, in fact, the Senate bill actually passes the House, which this strategy is meant to prevent).

Meanwhile, the Rep. Massa sex scandal escalates, as Pelosi claims she knew nothing of it, Hoyer may have known something for too long without doing anything about it, and the Ethics Committee revealed it’s investigating charges that Massa groped staffers in the past.

Bottom Line: As the Democrat party, and particularly the House, implodes due to corruption and inept leadership, Republicans are wise to leave well enough alone and stick to the policy debates.

On healthcare, many conservatives are applauding the Republicans latest strategy to take down ObamaCare. Others have voiced skepticism, noting that if the threat fails to get pro-life Dems to vote no in the House, then it will be Republicans senators that vote to ensure federal funding for abortion remains in the overall package… assuming reconciliation actually passes.

At the other end of the Avenue, tempers are beginning to flare at the White House and the Capitol, and Obama staff and Democrat congressional leadership feud over the healthcare deadlines that Obama keeps setting and Congress keeps missing. WH spokesman Robert Gibbs has repeatedly called on the House to move ObamaCare by March 18^th, the day BO leaves for Indonesia, but as this becomes increasingly unlikely, Hoyer and others Dems are pushing back hard.

Hoyer responded earlier this week to a question about meeting the deadline, saying “None of us has mentioned the 18^th other than Mr. Gibbs. We are trying to do this as soon as possible. That continues to be our objective.” After that thinly disguised jab from Hoyer, Gibbs responded in kind by saying, “The information I gave out last week was based on conversations I had with staff here in the building… I’ve been given nothing that would change that advice that I was given last week.”

Bottom Line: Of course, the latest deadline will be missed, which means all the members will go home to their respective districts and states over the Easter recess and face the wrath of the electorate. Not only has Obama failed to pass a jobs package in Congress, but he’s talked about healthcare incessantly, which further undermines his credibility in claiming jobs and the economy remain his “number one priority.”

In the Senate, late last week, Sen. Gregg said out loud what appears to have been on many Democrat’s minds. Gregg, discussing the current Dem strategy of having the House vote on the Senate-passed bill first, then voting on a reconciliation bill to “fix” the remaining problems with it, flatly stated, “If you’re in the House and you’re saying, ‘Well, I’m going to vote for this because I’m going to get a reconciliation bill,’ I would think twice about that. First because, procedurally, it’s going to be hard to put a reconciliation bill through the Senate. Second because I’m not sure there’s going to be a lot of energy to do it, from the president or his people.”

One of the lead posts on RedState.org this morning put it even more bluntly: “The House Vote on the Senate Healthcare Bill is the Final Vote; Obama Will Sign It Into Law.”

Bottom Line: The Senate-passed bill, referred to as “toxic” by more than one House Democrat, represents the best shot Obama has for implementing his vision of federalized healthcare in America. Even before speculating on the odds of reconciliation working in the Senate, Democrats must ask whether they will risk their careers by voting to pass the current Senate bill in the House.

In the House, the regular, methodic drumbeat of rank-and-file Democrats voicing skepticism over the Senate version of ObamaCare is getting louder by the day. Rep. John Adler stated on Sunday, “If the House and Senate can’t work out cost containment, I don’t see how I support a bill that doesn’t help our business community and create more jobs.”

Just last week, Rep. Jason Altmire, was sounding a similar tune with his claim that, “I don’t know of any no votes at this point that would switch unless the bill is substantially changed, including me. And I know of a handful of yes votes who regret it and would relish the opportunity to put a no vote on the board so they could go back home and talk about it.” It’s rumored that Mr. Altmire has softened his position a bit since a trip to 1600 Penn.

Bottom Line: In the next several weeks, many more skeptical and nervous Democrats will be dragged before either Pelosi or Obama or both, and given stern “advice” on their next healthcare vote. This is perhaps the best test of fortitude for elected leaders since the infamous Medicare Part D vote in 2003. Conservatives hope the outcome is different this time, that Democrats have more courage now to reject socialism than Republicans did back then.

At the other end of the Avenue, Obama’s Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says she still believes the March 18^th (self-imposed) deadline to move ObamaCare in the House will stick, despite no discernable path to passage at this point. Sebelius simultaneously blamed Republicans for politicking on Obama’s bill and exclaimed hope that there will still be GOP votes on his latest version. Also, the White House is showing no signs of concession on the current impasse on federal funding for abortion contained in the Senate bill, as Sebelius stated “conversations will continue” to overcome Rep. Stupak’s objections (and those of at least 12 other House Democrats who voted for the House bill).

On a related note, the Associated Press is reporting that Obama’s basic pitch to lawmakers in one-on-one meetings is to “trust me” and he vowed to pass his signature healthcare reform bill even if it kills him.

Bottom Line: It is, in fact, because Democrats do not trust Obama that he is losing momentum in the House on his healthcare reform bill. Numerous rank-and-file members, particularly Blue-Dogs, have voiced frustration and even bitterness toward Obama and Pelosi for forcing votes on liberal policies over the past year and jeopardizing their career. Some view ObamaCare as the last straw, and say they’ll vote nay in order to keep their job.

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