Democrats Consider Bypassing G.O.P. on National Health Care Plan

[steven johnson]

When George W. Bush used the fast track reconciliation techniqe to get his tax cuts through he was a 'uniter, not a divider.' Now that the democrats want to use the same technique, it would be "a declaration of war," according to Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming.

I guess the universe really does revolve around the Republican's flat earth.

With solid majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats are tempted to use their political muscle to speed passage of health care legislation with minimal concessions to the Republican minority.
Use of the expedited procedure, to prevent a Senate filibuster, could both help and hurt the Democrats. It would enable them to overcome Republican objections to a big increase in federal spending and a huge expansion in the role of government. On the other hand, it could fundamentally alter the political dynamic of the health care debate, detonating an explosive reaction among Republican senators who have been working with Democrats on the issue.
Under the reconciliation process, the House and the Senate first agree on an overall budget blueprint and then pursue legislation - in this case, the health care overhaul - "reconciling" the budget outline with the needed policy changes. As long as 51 of 58 Senate Democrats support the legislation, the White House would not need a single Republican vote.

House Democrats say the Republican protests are overheated. The fast-track procedures have been used 19 times since 1980 to pass major legislation, including much of President Ronald Reagan's domestic policy agenda in 1981, welfare overhaul in 1996 and President George W. Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=357489&single=1&f=19

[napi21]

1. zi think it's a great idea as long as they include a gov't sponsored HC plan too!

The HC lobbiests are a mighty group and probably will require the reconciliation process to get anything passed, but I've been hearing that Obama has backed away from a gov't sponsored plan as one of the choices. I think we all should send him emails to tell him that is the wrong way to go. If the greedy ins. sompanies can compete, fine, they;ll win, but if they can't TS!

[Politicub]

2. Do it! And the GOP will never be able to take away healthcare for all

It will be the fourth rail, right next to Social Security.

[No More Bushbots]

3. Bypass them on everything

They are irrelevant.
Besides, they all act like two year olds throwing a temper tantrum.

[Laelth]

11. Hear, hear! n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[liberal N proud]

4. I hope so

The only thing that could come from the republicans being involved is profit for the corporations.

[DFW]

5. I'd say go for it

The Republicans have pretty much shown their true colors since Obama's election.

Most of the, plan to try to obstruct ANY initiave or nomination he proposes just because it comes from him.
To hell with them. We never gave Cheneybush THAT kind of blanket obstruction. I say push for as much legislation
as possible that is for the common good, make a detailed track record of every Republican obstructionist vote,
and prime the local Democrats with a detailed list of such votes for the upcoming mid-term elections. Shove
their obstructionist tactics onto every headline, every news broadcast that will accept to air them, every
speech from the floor of the Senate or House. Use a little Frank Luntz on them. Make the whole country,
the whole world knows them as "the party of NO." And then come the next few elections, "JUST SAY YES."

[spanone]

6. y e s !

[90-percent]

7. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Reasonably priced, high quality health care is a Constitutional Right.

-90% jimmy

[Wapsie B]

8. Work with the gop on this? No way.

Playing nice with these people got us in one big mess after another. Let the gop go into meltdown mode. Seriously.

[AndyA]

9. I think the Dems should all get in their Hummers and drive over the obstructionist

Republicans! They didn't ask when Bush was in office, they just did and if you didn't like it you were labeled a traitor or terrorist.

F 'em.

Fire up the Hummers and run them over. Shut them the hell up. Go NOOK-YOU-LER on them (to quote *).

We've seen what they've done to this country. Now we need to fix it. They can either help, or get the f*ck out of the way!

[rateyes]

10. Do it. And, make the legislation "single-payer."

[galloglas]

12. DO IT !! DO IT !! DO IT !! n/t

[Lugnut]

13. They won't vote for it anyway.

Go for it. We won.

[Arkana]

14. Get Big Al seated in the Senate first.

[blueclown]

15. Do we have 50 votes for health care overhaul?

There are a lot of DLCers in the Senate. This is why we need Al to be seated.

[Union Yes]

16. knr DO IT!

[Frank Booth]

17. If Harry Reid weren't Senate leader, I'd be hopeful.