Lots of good stuff, all worth watching:
So, where are things now? It appears that the Blue Dog Democrat protest against abortion may be without teeth. We'll see.
Again, a key question is: what will this cost the American taxpayer? We can get some kind of idea from looking at past programs:
In 1967, the experts predicted that the new Medicare program would cost about $12 billion in 1990. Actual Medicare spending in 1990 was $110 billion—off by nearly a factor of 100. The leftist TPM shot back noting that the government run health company is supposed to be “financed by premiums, and unable to draw on federal funds.” The statement would be comically naive if the stakes weren’t so high. Does the left really expect the American people to believe that the same government that bailed out General Motors, Chrysler, and scores of highly unpopular banks, would not bailout the already-government-run insurance company they fought so hard to create?
Not likely.
The reality is that a vote for cloture (the vote to end debate and hold the actual vote on the bill) essentially is the vote on the bill:
Harry Reid’s odd announcement this week on ObamaCare had some wondering whether he had agreement from moderate Democrats to support cloture, even if they wound up voting against ObamaCare when it came to the floor. One of those moderates, Evan Bayh of Indiana, dispelled the notion that one would be significantly different from the other. Bayh also warned that excessive fees and fiscal irresponsibility would doom his vote for either:
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.): Democratic leaders should be able to tell where Bayh is headed based on his vote on whether to move to a debate. The Indiana Democrat said Tuesday that he doesn’t see “much difference between process and policy at this particular juncture,” and that he’ll be “looking at those two things as one and the same.”
But Bayh said Tuesday that he’s not as concerned with the public option, saying he’s “more focused on is this fiscally responsible and what does this mean in terms of the premiums average families pay for those who currently have insurance.” Bayh said that Reid’s decision to reduce new fees on medical device makers has put his vote in play.
“Without that, they definitely would not have my support,” Bayh said.This makes Reid’s move even more inexplicable. All Republicans need at the moment are two Democrats to stop cloture, and one of those would balance Olympia Snowe — and with a public option, Snowe claims she’ll join Republicans anyway. Losing Joe Lieberman yesterday was bad enough, but at least Lieberman is technically an independent. Did Reid not check with his moderate Democrats to ensure they would remain on board?
Here's the danger we face:
The reason why this is so tricky for Reid is that once a bill gets to the floor, it's very difficult to change it. For instance, if the bill includes a government plan, it would require 60 votes to strip that measure from the bill. So if Lieberman is serious about his threat to filibuster a government-run plan, what that means is there's a risk a bill could get trapped on the Senate floor. In other words, liberals won't provide Reid with the 60 votes needed to ditch the government plan, but if the government plan isn't ditched, Reid won't have the votes to cut off debate and proceed to a simple majority vote on the final bill.
With that said, a Senate GOP source cautions that once Reid gets the bill to the floor, he has the ability to spread around all sorts of goodies to bribe reluctant moderate Democrats into at least supporting the vote to cut off debate and proceed with a vote, even if they ultimately vote against the final bill. That's why Republicans argue that it's important to make sure that the bill doesn't even get to the floor in the first place. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has emphasized that moderate Democrats shouldn't be allowed to get away with drawing a distinction between a vote to consider the bill and a final vote on the bill itself.
Here's the key:
The bottom line, says the Senate GOP source, is: "If people oppose the bill, they have to let Democrats know they consider that first cloture vote as the vote on the bill."
If you oppose ObamaKennedyDeathCare, this is a detail that you must specify to your Senators the next time you call. It is the cloture vote that counts, and it is that vote for which you will hold your Senator responsible.
There's my two cents.
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