Democrats Contemplating The Suicide Option On ObamaCare

The arrogance of these people astound me. First it was the messiah movement in which they believed they had the mandate to move our country into Socialism. Then…when the polls tanked and it was shown that the people DID NOT want Socialism what do they do?

Try to shove it through anyway:

Four Democratic senators, including two facing potentially challenging election campaigns this year, are asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use reconciliation, a procedural maneuver requiring only 51 votes, to push for a public health insurance option.

Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) signed a letter to Reid saying they support this plan for four reasons: the cost savings the public option is estimated to achieve, continued public support for the public option, the need for increased competition in the insurance market and the Senate’s history of using the reconciliation process for health care reform.

“Put simply, including a strong public option is one of the best, most fiscally responsible ways to reform our health insurance system,” the letter says. “Although we strongly support the important reforms made by the Senate-passed health reform package, including a strong public option would improve both its substance and the public’s perception of it.”

They must see the writing on the wall. The days of the Democrat party being anywhere close to 60 votes has come and gone and a November massacre is in the wind so why not just go for it all?

But do they even have 51 votes for it?

I’m doubting it. There has to be a quite a few Democrat Senators that understand the fallout from using this method would be huge. The Republican party would be so united, from shore to shore, it will make their heads spin. Add in this fact:

“This process is not designed to do a lot of policy making and it would be very difficult to achieve a number of things that people want to achieve” in the healthcare reform legislation, Dove said. “This could be a very long, exhausting process.”

Not only was budget reconciliation created and modified as a means to enact laws to reduce the deficit, which means all the provisions must result in a change in budgetary outlays, but the parliamentarian wields considerable authority to strip anything from the bill that he or she deems to be extraneous, Dove said.Dove oversaw some budget reconciliation measures in his time and, he notes, ruled out around 300 provisions from a 1995 budget reconciliation bill.

The parliamentarian can rule any provisions as “incidental” and remove it from the bill if he or she judges that its purpose is to write new policy not simply to alter the federal budget. “The ‘incidental’ test is a very difficult test because it is very subjective,” Dove said. “You are trying to judge peoples’ motives,” he said. The Senate can overturn the parliamentarian’s rulings with 60 votes — but if Democrats had 60 votes, they would not be using reconciliation. Dove also noted that Vice President Joe Biden, in his Constitutional role as President of the Senate, is the ultimate authority and could overrule the parliamentarian. He added, though, that “no vice president, frankly, since Nelson Rockefeller in 1975, has exercised that right.

Senators are also entitled to offer as many amendments as they choose during reconciliation.

And the Democrats CAN NOT limit those amendments.

The united Republicans would shut down Congress.

Can the Democrats be this stupid?

Curt

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