Post by unlawflcombatnt on Oct 31, 2009 14:45:32 GMT -6
According to some, the Senate's likely filibuster of a Public Option-containing health care bill can be done through budget reconciliation.
Budget reconciliation needed to get Public Option thru Senate
from the Examiner.com
October 29, 2009
by Dave Hornstein (Detroit National Politics Examiner)
"With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) having announced that the public health insurance option will be included in the Senate health care reform bill, it is now obvious that budget reconciliation will be needed for the public option to be approved....
40 Senate Republicans are unanimously opposed to the public option. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who caucuses with the Democrats, has said that he would join a Republican filibuster against the public option, leaving Reid and his Democrats at least 1 vote short of cloture to cut off debate. But the health care bill affects the federal budget, and budget reconciliation, which is not subject to filibuster, can therefore be used.
In announcing inclusion of the public option in the bill, Reid offered some compromises in a likely futile attempt to get the support of moderate and conservative Democrats, let alone the few moderate Republicans left in the Senate....
These compromises weren't enough to win over Lieberman or Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the only Republican to vote for the Finance Committee version of the bill, which doesn't include the public option. She favors a trigger, which would delay implementation of the public option until certain conditions are met, an absurd approach when the health care system is already broken.
It appears that 52 Senate Democrats, including Michigan's Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, support the public option, while polls show that it is backed by 77% of the American people, including a sizable proportion of Republican voters. With this level of support, Reid should drop all compromises in favor of a robust public option and use budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority for passage.
Republicans have threatened all kinds of dire retaliation if budget reconciliation is used, and Reid should call their bluff, for the Republicans have shown that they are obstructionists who put partisan gamesmanship ahead of the public interest, regardless of the way Democrats choose to proceed. Besides, the Republicans are being hypocrites when they used budget reconciliation to pass tax cuts three times during George W. Bush's administration while they had a smaller Senate majority.
In offering compromises, Reid lamented the decline of bipartisan cooperation during his tenure in the Senate. He needs to confront this reality head-on by admitting that there is no point in trying to compromise with rigid and corrupt opponents who don't have the word "compromise" in their vocabularies. It's time to play hardball for the public interest."
www.examiner.com/x-1300-Detroit-National-Politics-Examiner~y2009m10d29-Budget-reconciliation-needed-to-get-the-public-option-through-the-Senate
The Public Option is the best part of the bill. In fact, it's practically the only good part of the bill, in my opinion. But the fact that you have to be un-insured to qualify for the public option makes it far less beneficial.
The employer and individual mandates are an outright disaster, and should be completely removed from the bill. Their only purpose is to raise the price of insurance premiums, increase insurance company revenue, and increase health insurance companies' already-exorbitant profits.
Furthermore, no bill should ever be 1,990 pages long.
Budget reconciliation needed to get Public Option thru Senate
from the Examiner.com
October 29, 2009
by Dave Hornstein (Detroit National Politics Examiner)
"With Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) having announced that the public health insurance option will be included in the Senate health care reform bill, it is now obvious that budget reconciliation will be needed for the public option to be approved....
40 Senate Republicans are unanimously opposed to the public option. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who caucuses with the Democrats, has said that he would join a Republican filibuster against the public option, leaving Reid and his Democrats at least 1 vote short of cloture to cut off debate. But the health care bill affects the federal budget, and budget reconciliation, which is not subject to filibuster, can therefore be used.
In announcing inclusion of the public option in the bill, Reid offered some compromises in a likely futile attempt to get the support of moderate and conservative Democrats, let alone the few moderate Republicans left in the Senate....
These compromises weren't enough to win over Lieberman or Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the only Republican to vote for the Finance Committee version of the bill, which doesn't include the public option. She favors a trigger, which would delay implementation of the public option until certain conditions are met, an absurd approach when the health care system is already broken.
It appears that 52 Senate Democrats, including Michigan's Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, support the public option, while polls show that it is backed by 77% of the American people, including a sizable proportion of Republican voters. With this level of support, Reid should drop all compromises in favor of a robust public option and use budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority for passage.
Republicans have threatened all kinds of dire retaliation if budget reconciliation is used, and Reid should call their bluff, for the Republicans have shown that they are obstructionists who put partisan gamesmanship ahead of the public interest, regardless of the way Democrats choose to proceed. Besides, the Republicans are being hypocrites when they used budget reconciliation to pass tax cuts three times during George W. Bush's administration while they had a smaller Senate majority.
In offering compromises, Reid lamented the decline of bipartisan cooperation during his tenure in the Senate. He needs to confront this reality head-on by admitting that there is no point in trying to compromise with rigid and corrupt opponents who don't have the word "compromise" in their vocabularies. It's time to play hardball for the public interest."
www.examiner.com/x-1300-Detroit-National-Politics-Examiner~y2009m10d29-Budget-reconciliation-needed-to-get-the-public-option-through-the-Senate
The Public Option is the best part of the bill. In fact, it's practically the only good part of the bill, in my opinion. But the fact that you have to be un-insured to qualify for the public option makes it far less beneficial.
The employer and individual mandates are an outright disaster, and should be completely removed from the bill. Their only purpose is to raise the price of insurance premiums, increase insurance company revenue, and increase health insurance companies' already-exorbitant profits.
Furthermore, no bill should ever be 1,990 pages long.