30th
Sen. Lincoln (D-AR) vows to oppose HC under reconciliation
The Speaker announced on Friday, Jan. 29 that she would pole volt or parachute over the GOP obstacles in order to pass HC thru Congress. That statement tells this writer that the budget reconciliation process will definitely be used to jam the bill thru Congress. Remember, the problem with passing HC is in the Senate where the Senate Democrats have lost their 60th vote, filibuster proof Senate with the election of the GOP Senator Brown from MA. THe reconciliation process allows only 50 votes to pass the bill in the Senate (VP Biden would break a 50/50 tie). The Senate Majority Leader could lose 9 of his Senators and still pass the bill in the Senate. The reconciliation process also limits the debate to 20 hours. This sounds pretty good to any Majority Leader who has slugged thru many a bill in the Senate with unlimited debate time. The reconciliation process has a glitch however that allows Senators to offer amdts & get votes after the 20 hours have expired. So typiccally, Leaders have allowed for 30 secs of explaination before dozens & dozens of back-to-back votes occur. Watch the video on how reconciliation works in the Senate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA-KKJxXbBQ
With reconciliation becoming a real possibility for moving HC thru Congress, Sen. Lincoln (D-AR) announced last week: “I am opposed to and will fight against any attempts to push through changes to the Senate health insurance reform legislation by using budget reconciliation tactics that would allow the Senate to pass a package of changes to our original bill with 51 votes. I have successfully fought for transparency throughout Senate deliberations on health care, and I will continue to do so.”
