I’ve been wondering this on the periphery of my mind for a while, and now that I’ve seen not only Rich Lowry over at NRO but also even one-time would-be Obama’s Commerce Secretary Judd Gregg mention it, I suppose I’ll put it out there:
Given how brazen and contemptible the president and his fellow Stalinists in Congress and the Senate have been so far with regard to doing whatever they feel they need to do in order to shove socialized medicine down the throats of an unwilling populace, why would they even bother with reconciliation after the Senate monstrosity is passed by the House (a necessary first-step in order to use that procedure)?
After all, if it’s passed, and those Democrats who’ve signed their political suicide pact with the Speaker have already cast their lots, what incentive would the Senate have to even consider health care again this year? Given the—-er, Charlie-Foxtrot (to use a military term) that it’s been for over 13 months now, what Senate Democrat in his right mind would want to bring up the issue again as he slid through the spring and summer into November’s elections?
Considering the sausage-making spectacle that should cause, spending the months between passing the Senate bill in the House (and the president’s signing it) right before Easter and the summer recess when they start campaigning in ernest tinkering with “fixes” to the Obamacare LAW, it could only put Democrats in an even less tenable situation.
Keeping all that in mind, do you suppose it’s possible that House Democrats could be being set up for a bait-and-switch whereby they are snookered into passing the Senate bill with the promise (please excuse my salty language here) of “cleaning it up” in reconciliation only to have the rug pulled out from under them by an understandably exhausted (or worse, conniving all along) Senate?
The bottom line is that, even if there’s no funny business going on, there’s a very real chance that if the House does what President Obama wants them to do (pass the Senate bill), that might be what we’re left with as the law of the land.
I imagine there are probably 39+ House Democrats who at least have a little itch in the back of their minds about that.
-Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from TML)
UPDATE: Yuval Levin puts a different fine point on it (and with fewer spelling mistakes).
“Perifery”?
Ha ha…Evan, thanks for the catch. Fingers move faster than the brain sometimes…
Nick, I think you are onto something here. I’ve suspected that was the plan all along. There will be no reconciliation. Obama doesn’t care if they all get their butts kicked out of office, he will have managed to socialize medicine in the US. I email my own despicable Pelosi puppet congressman (McNerny) every day vowing to work my tail off to help kick him out if he votes for this stinking pile of crap.
I wish Senate Republicans would do more to exploit this question. They are in a position to grind the Senate to a halt with bill readings, roll calls, amendments, etc. – on matters unrelated to Obamacare, if need be – until the Dems withdraw Obamacare from any further consideration or action in 2010. Thus, Senate Republicans are in a position to actively void Harry Reid’s promises of “fixing” the Senate bill in reconciliation – if they are determined and united. I wish they would be, and that McConnell would get on TV and say out loud that Harry Reid’s promise of “fixes” to the bill should be considered null and void.
Why would anyone in their right mind believe that the Senate will “fix” anything? This is all about ramming something through that the Obama dems can crow about come November and hope it will get them some votes they are now losing. That’s a bad bet imho.
The Democrats have wanted socialized medicine for decades and partly in order to create new, too-dangerous-to-touch entitlement in America.
It’s horribly unconstitutional. Providing health care vouchers for poor people (like food stamps) might be constitutional, though I would argue it. But mandates? I.e., the Federal government forcing the entire nation to buy a product? Or a “public option”, i.e. the Federal government actually running a healthcare business? Blatantly unconstitutional.
But when has the Constitution stopped the Democrats? So they keep pushing.
This will all lead to the next financial crisis. The official deficit is already $1.5 trillion a year. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid already have tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities that the government doesn’t count in the official deficit. And the Democrats’ proposals can’t and won’t work in reality. They will only further increase costs and unfunded liabilities, taking our nation off the cliff.
I don’t look forward to that. I only know it’s coming. There must and will be another, and more severe financial crisis just to deal with our *existing* unfunded, unaffordable entitlements – never mind because of ObamaPelosiGreidCare. The Democrats seem determined to make the situation worse. (While lying to themselves and others, of course, that they aren’t.)