Orin Hatch on the Dems using reconciliation for Healthcare

[Thrill]

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said the reconciliation plan would cause a "tremendous furor" among his colleagues and virtually ensure most oppose any health care legislation.

"The partisan side of me says: Go for it, because if they do that, they’re going to get hung with the worst health care bill in history," Hatch said. "With all the complexities of health care, you cannot please all of the stakeholders and if they make it a partisan exercise, my gosh, we’ll beat them up for the rest of their lives."

And of course the yella belly Dems way in

Not all Democrats support the move. Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who heads the Senate Finance Committee, said today that "sustainable" change in the health-care system requires bipartisan support, which is less likely if lawmakers use the tactic. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad , a North Dakota Democrat, has also criticized the plan, saying the reconciliation procedure is supposed to be reserved for legislation aimed at cutting the budget deficit.

Byrd Rule

The reconciliation plan could present some practical difficulties for Democrats when the Senate takes up the health- care legislation because of the chamber's so-called Byrd rule. The rule, named after West Virginia Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, bars provisions in bills that don't have a significant impact on taxes or spending. Republicans could use that rule to strip scores of individual provisions from health-care legislation, leaving Democrats with an incomplete bill.

"When you’re trying to write substantive legislation under those rules, you’re going to be left with what the parliamentarian has called Swiss cheese," Conrad warned yesterday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20090424/pl_bloomberg/aoy0mteak53c

LOL

[Lasher]

1. Senator Hack needs to recall the process used to pass Junior's tax cuts for the wealthy elite.

And he needs to STFU.

[benld74]

2. Hey Orrin! It wasn't the same when the GOP,,,

used the EXACT SAME thing to pass a majority of things BUSH used to get the country in the mess its currently in! WAS IT?

[firedupdem]

3. He needs to STFU and they need to call him out on their use of

it to get shrubs garbage passed. They are the ones that will get beaten up when we have good health care and they did nothing but say NO.

[Patsy Stone]

4. Wow.

[Cha]

5. That's what republicons do..

when they were in power they did anything they wanted and we were told to suck it up. Now they're in full on whining mode because after President Obama gave them a chance to work with him and they thumbed their collective nose at him..he's going to do what it takes to help the country without their greedy input.

[dflprincess]

6. Hatch" "you cannot please all of the stakeholders..."

But I'm sure they'll (both Democrats and Republicans) will bend over to make sure the one stakeholder who shouldn't be pleased will be - and that's the crooks at the insurance companies.

I think it's time that Members of Congress were forced to buy their own private plans. There's no reason why they should have coverage when at least 45 million of their constituents have no health insurance and 18 million Americans die every year because of our crappy system. When some of them have to worry about how they're going to pay major health care bills maybe they'll decide that money the insurance companies pay into their campaigns isn't worth it in the long run.

[subterranean]

7. The Republicans will oppose the bill no matter what.

They'll oppose any healthcare bill that's not a giveaway to the insurance industry. That's why the reconciliation procedure is necessary.