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.

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/feingold-open-to-health-care-reconciliation-only-for-certain-provisions-not-full-bills/ http://washingtonalert.org/2010/03/feingold-open-to-health-care-reconciliation-only-for-certain-provisions-not-full-bills/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:18:16 +0000 Robert Romano http://washingtonalert.org/?p=2592 In a statement Sunday, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said he would support reconciling health care reform legislation only in specific instances.

The statement came after Feingold talked to constituents in Racine on Saturday about health care.

Feingold said he is open to using reconciliation to enact health care provisions specifically targeted at reducing budget deficits. He also said reconciliation would not be an appropriate way to move forward wide-ranging health care reform measures, such as the bills passed by the House and Senate.

Permalink here.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will push again for a one-year moratorium on earmarks, piggybacking on reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) may consider such a measure.

DeMint is likely to force a vote on the earmarks ban by offering a motion to suspend the rules this week at the conclusion of the Senate debate on an extenders bill.

The conservative senator renewed his push for an earmarks ban, which is similar to one he offered at the height of the healthcare debate in December, after reports indicated Pelosi may enact a complete ban on earmarks for one year.

“Nancy Pelosi and I don’t agree on many things, but if she’s willing to take a stand for taxpayers, I’ll work with her to put an end to the earmark favor factory,” DeMint said Monday in a statement.

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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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However, most U.S. voters (55%) would rather see Congress scrap the original plan and start all over again, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

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