Posted on 01/19/2010 12:43:24 PM PST by ColdOne
A top Senate Democrat for the first time Tuesday acknowledged that the party is prepared to deal with health care reform by using a controversial legislative tactic known as the "nuclear option" if Republican Scott Brown wins the Massachusetts Senate election.
Calling the state's special election "an uphill battle to put it mildly," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said "there are options to still pursue health care" should Democrat Martha Coakley lose to Brown.
Congressional Democrats have been discussing several options, since a Brown win would break the party's 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority at a critical time for health care reform. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, described a combination of tactics to get what his party wants out of health care reform.
First, he said the House could simply approve the Senate bill, sending it straight to President Obama's desk.
Then, Durbin said, the Senate could make changes to the bill by using the nuclear option, known formally as "reconciliation," a tactic that would allow Democrats to adjust parts of health care reform with
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Do it. Please.
Sincerely,
TonyInOhio
I think these people are so out of touch with us, they are going to do it... They will just “double down” (as Rush says)
And none of them care a bit about our Founding Fathers..That is why they have to go.
There’s a reason its called the “nuclear option” — because you are not supposed to use it.
There’s a reason its called the “nuclear option” — because you are not supposed to use it.
There is usually no major legislation that is passed during the election year. The Dems became arrogant and thought the American people would just swallow.
They are realizing now that they will commit political suicide if they pass this legislation. I would love for them to try to do it.
In 1967, when there were 68 Democrats and 20 RINOs in the Senate, VP Humphrey tried to use the nuclear option, and even with LBJ and HHH working full-time, they could not get 51 votes.
A US Senator is the most powerful legislator in the world, precisely because of the filibuster. Any Senator who votes for a nuclear option is reducing his own personal power, permanently.
Reconciliation and Nuclear Option are not the same thing.
Reconcilitation is an existing process only for budget bills. Nuclear Option is an actual change of Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster. They could do this and their left wing is starting to scream pretty loud for them to do so. Then they can spend the next 10 months cramming through everything on their wish-list, elections be damned.
They’re going to lose a lot of “blue dog” votes.
They’ll lose them simply because of the “closeness” of this race, and a Brown win will double that fear.
Like the more well-known nuclear option, it should cost every single one of them their jobs.
But we know that won’t happen.
If Brown wins in Mass, healthcare is dead in the House. Period.
Yep.
I think the Dick Durbin is bluffing again.
Rats may consider the nuclear option to railroad health control through. But the Rats better consider the consequences when angry mobs come out swinging with the true intention of literally kicking their rats ass.
Shove me and I shove back.
IIRC, what Reid did to move the current Senate bill is to take an unimportant House bill that wasn’t going to be passed, and he edited out almost all the text and substituted all of the text for the current Senate bill. That’s also how they were able to have a floor vote on it without going through committee. (The 3 bills that they used to build the final Senate bill all went through committee, though.)
Therefore, it is already set up to be a reconciliation bill with regard to procedural matters. They still have to make some major edits, and under the Byrd Rule it cannot have any provisions longer than 10 years.
But I could be wrong.
The Democrat Dilemma of 2010: You've already offended the vast majority of voters with a really stupid move, led by Obama and Pelosi. No matter what you do, there is a high probability that you will be voted out in November. Do you (1) try to push through the offending step toward socialism under the assumption that you can't make patriotic Americans any angrier than they already are, or (2) claim you never supported THAT bill and hope the dodge gives you time to get away in the confusion and not be blamed by your district's voters?
It's a close call, but I'm hoping the Dems will panic (assuming Brown has a large enough margin that fraud can't take the election from him) and kill this terrible "health care" bill.
They can try but I don’t think if Brown wins that they will even be able to get 51 votes.
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