Wobbly from House, Health Care Bill Fuzzy in Senate
While it is likely that the Democrats in the House will see a narrow majority on the “deem pass” Senate Health Care bill and the second vote on “related fixes” on Sunday, the US Senate is another story. And if any part of the fragile coalition of nervous Democrat legislators (liberal, moderate or socialist) sees the reality that the American people to do not support the messy, costly and socialistic Health Care bill, their votes may be peeled off as political reality sets it. The US Senate is a labyrinth of tradition, rules and parliamentary procedures that mystifies most people outside the upper chamber.
From ABC News….Z. Byron Wolf reporting 3.21.2010
Should the House pass the Senate bill and the package of reconciliation fix-its tonight, Senators will take over the reconciliation fix-its as soon as Tuesday.
That will set in motion a week or longer parliamentary floor battle with points of order, references to the budget act, the Byrd Rule and more.
For an appetizer, take a look at Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Judd Gregg’s statement tonight.
“Immediately after receiving the final reconciliation bill language, Senate Republican staff was ready and willing to meet with Senate Democratic staff and the Senate Parliamentarian to discuss the fact that the House reconciliation bill may be brought down by the 310(g) point of order in the Senate. Senate Democrats are mysteriously unavailable until after the House votes on the health care bill tonight. The Senate Democrats appear to be pushing off this meeting so that House Democrats will remain in the dark about what is likely to happen to the reconciliation bill on which many have staked their careers in Congress. House Democrats should be alarmed by this latest development, since the survival of the reconciliation bill is clearly at risk in the Senate.”
If Republicans can get the parliamentarian to agree with them even once, whatever ultimately passes the Senate will have to go back to the House. And Democrats in the House quietly admit that its very likely they will have to vote again on the reconciliation fixes at some point down the road.
Meanwhile, the US taxpayer should be very nervous that instead a supposed cost savings, the Democrats are still pushing Health Care insurance legislative that bends the cost curve up (higher costs, more taxes, less quality health care). In response to Republican leaders, the Chief Actuary for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) notified them as follows:
WASHINGTON, DC – The Obama administration’s chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) notified Republican leaders Saturday that the “very tight time frame” and “complexity” of the Democrats’ health spending bill would prevent them from fully analyzing the costs and efficacy of the bill before the House voted on the legislation. The letter was in response to a request from House and Senate Republicans.
The Chief Actuary, Richard S. Foster, wrote: “In your letter, you requested that we provide the updated actuarial estimates in time for your review prior to the expected House debate and vote on this legislation on March 21,2010. I regret that my staff and I will not be able to prepare our analysis within this very tight time frame, due to the complexity of the legislation.”
Foster and his staff analyzed the Senate-passed bill and determined that it bent the cost curve up, estimating in a January 8 report that national health expenditures would increase by an estimated total of $222 billion, and that the additional demand for health services “could be difficult to meet” and “could lead to price increases, cost-shifting, and/or changes in providers’ willingness to treat patients with low-reimbursement health coverage.” Foster, in his letter today, expects the new health spending bill to be “generally similar.”
House Republican Leader John Boehner said: “The House of Representatives should not vote blindly on an issue that is so important to every American. We deserve to have all the facts about how much this bill raise health care costs before we vote. The decision to press ahead and jam this bill down the throats of the American people is just one more example of arrogance and irresponsibility from Washington Democrats.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said: “Americans deserve to have a full analysis of this bill, but won’t because of the mad dash forced by the Democrat leaders in the House. We now know that even the Obama administration’s chief actuary predicts more government spending, more price increases for consumers and less care for low-income patients. This debate was supposed about lowering costs for Americans not making things worse.”
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