The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Harkin: It's Reconciliation Time

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Harkin: It's Reconciliation Time

By Philip Klein on 3.3.10 @ 11:44AM

Not that this should come as a surprise to anybody, but Sen. Tom Harkin has just confirmed to the Politico that Democrats are preparing to ram through the health care bill via reconciliation:

Sen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.

Harkin made the comments after a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office including Harkin and Sens. Baucus, Dodd, Durbin, Schumer and Murray.

The difficulty, however, is that it isn't just a matter of convincing House members that they have the votes -- even if there are, theoretically, 51 votes in the Senate for some sort of reconciliation bill, there's still a high degree of uncertainty over what can actually get passed via reconciliation. Plus, there's the issue of timing.

Sean Higgins at Investors Business Daily reports:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday that the leadership was mulling first passing a “fix” to the Senate health care bill, then passing the Senate bill it is supposedly fixing. The fix, in Capitol Hill-speak, is being called the “reconciliation bill.”

“We could pass the reconciliation first, have the reconciliation passed by the Senate and then pass the Senate bill,” Hoyer said.

This would reverse the usual order of passing a bill, then passing the additional “fix” bill. Hoyer said that while putting the legislative cart before the horse would be “more complicated,” it could be done.

This maneuver would boost the health care bill’s chances in the House by reassuring nervous lawmakers that they will not be abandoned by their Senate colleagues.

But Hoyer conceded it would be tricky to execute and seriously bend the procedural rules as well.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bart Stupak is still insisting that he won't vote for the bill, and his problems extend beyond abortion. "We're not going to walk the plank again just to see the Senate shut us down," he told the Wall Street Journal. Yet the same article says there are at least six Democrats who voted against the bill the first time around who are now undecided.

View all comments (8) | Leave a comment

Ellis Wyatt| 3.3.10 @ 12:06PM

How can the cbo score the reconciliation bill if the senate bill is not law? And does anyone believe the reconciliation bill will not be amended to death? Frankly, I don't think pelosi has near enough votes to get this done.

The other danger is the economic and social firestorm this will create should such an immensley unpopular bill that seeks to control 17% of our economy and personal lives of Americans be passed in such an unprecedented manner. I can see this scaring away more democrats in the house than it will gain. I believe if the democrats go this route, the end of their power in November will be certain, but it will be the least this country will have to worry about. Things could deteriorate and get ugly real quick.

Lazy Jack| 3.3.10 @ 12:33PM

I am reminded of Ahab. Perhaps healthcare is the harpoon with which our democracy will finally be brought to heel. Yes, Obama as Ahab, Pelosi as Queequeg, and Reid as Fedallah. Not only are the characters similar, but Moby Dick shares a trait with the purported benefits of nationalizing healthcare. They are both works of fiction.

Abraham Lincoln called it a lullaby during his campaign against Douglas. What he meant was the political promises contrived to make people feel comfortable enough that they would sleep through the important debates (then it was slavery) and allow the back room deals to be made. In this case the democrats are allowing the lullaby to lure them into voting for healthcare legislation that will indenture (by way of the unconstitutional mandate to purchase insurance) every man, woman and child in this country with no demonstrable return to the people.

It seems there is ample statistical evidence that as the welfare state has grown fatter in the years since 1932, GDP growth has abated (For you non-believers, see Department of Commerce, OMB, BEA, and Federal Reserve historical data, among others). Education and innovation associated with a robust capitalist democracy also appear to be an endangered species on this continent. In other words, every time the government’s helping hand is extended, we appear to grow poorer as a nation and as a people. But listen to the lullaby of free healthcare for all, and all will be well.

Lazy Jack

http://thanksforthelaughs.word.....onscience/

PJ Doland| 3.3.10 @ 12:38PM

Lazy Jack-

The mental image of Nancy Pelosi as Queequeg just made my afternoon.

GJMerits| 3.3.10 @ 12:49PM

The architect of reconciliation - Robert Byrd - it completely against using it to pass healthcare. That's right, a sitting U.S. Senator and the Democrat from West Virginia is on the record as being completely against it. Yet nobody is talking about this.

Words have meaning and memes can carry far and wide. Tie in Senator Byrd’s statement’s on reconciliation with the idea of rule by tyranny. The GOP talking heads should be screaming Byrd’s views from the mountaintops and I have yet to hear a single reference to Byrd’s feelings on the matter of using reconciliation to shove healthcare down our throats.

His words are powerful. The fact that they come from him is PR gold.

http://tinyurl.com/yjmfxem

ggoblue| 3.3.10 @ 8:27PM

what a great yr to have the dems implode...next yr is the reapportionment. barak obama is the curse that keeps on killing. his own.

RightKlik| 3.3.10 @ 10:04PM

Question: Has reconciliation ever been used as a way to avoid taking a bill to conference?

Isn't that what all these machinations amount to?

640-553| 4.19.10 @ 6:21AM

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