Posted on 08/19/2009 11:06:38 AM PDT by BGHater
The Obama administration is looking hard at pushing through a health care reform bill without Republican backing, top Democrats close to the White House told CNN.
The Democratic majority in the Senate has been stymied in the health care debate by Republicans and conservative Democrats, leaving them short of the 60-vote filibuster-proof margin needed to pass the bill.
Democratic success could depend on an obscure tactic called reconciliation, a type of budget maneuver that requires only a simple majority -- 51 votes -- to pass.
Congressional Democrats authorized the maneuver specifically for health care reform legislation during the debate over the 2010 budget, which passed in April.
One top Senate Republican warned at the time that using reconciliation to pass such a measure would be "like a declaration of war."
Going it alone could be risky for Democrats, not because they couldn't raise the votes, but because Republicans could cast it as a power play, accusing them of failing to win bipartisan support. A Quinnipiac University survey released two weeks ago showed that 59 percent of registered voters nationwide oppose passage of health care legislation if the bill fails to win bipartisan support.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs insisted Wednesday that President Obama has not yet given up hope for a bipartisan plan.
"The president has said countless times he will work with anybody and everybody who wants to work constructively on health care reform," Gibbs said. "We continue to be hopeful that we can get bipartisan support, and we'll continue to work with those that are interested in doing that."
But moving ahead on a more partisan basis might ultimately be a strategy Democrats are willing to employ.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Best if it isn’t pushed through at all. But if it is, it HAD BETTER be with no Repubican support.
If you want to ensure a 2012 Republican presidency and the loss of at least one chamber of Congress, please continue and go it alone, Dems.
Get it voted, Dems.
“If you want to ensure a 2012 Republican presidency and the loss of at least one chamber of Congress”
At a bare minimum. The Dems still don’t have a clue about the level of anger out here outside the Beltway.
These guys sure like to tell you what they’re going to go.
Go ahead and do it, if you can. I suspect if you could have, it would have been done by now.
The only 2 who I’m scared of are Snowe and Collins...if those two go along with the Dems plan they should be tossed from the party.
RE :”One top Senate Republican warned at the time that using reconciliation to pass such a measure would be “like a declaration of war.”
Big deal. That’s how republicans passed the tax cuts. That’s why they expire,
Since the health care plan wouldnt start till 2012 it would expire in 2 or 3 years after that, by that time dems wont have a majority anymore or even the white house . This is an empty gun.
Now THIS is a great way to make laws.
Oy!
They have 60 dems in the chamber but they don't have all 60 on board, so they still can't break a filibuster and senators aren't as easily horse-collared as representatives in the House.
If they passed it this way the media will rejoice. It will be bigger than 9-11 in media coverage. They Democrats will be swept to victory in 2010 and 2012.
Remember the big changes don’t hit until 2013.
No 0bamacare.
No cap 'n tax.
Refund the stimulus.
Cut the taxes.
If they do that, it’s THEIR death knell.
Hello? Republicans? Is anybody home?
REad today that Obama is calling out his ‘moral’ attack dogs. The ‘progressive’ religious leaders are going to push the ‘moral imperative’ of this legislation. In other words, if ‘UnAmerican’ didn’t work, then resort to ‘UnChristian’.
We should prepare a counterattack to these ‘progressive’ religious leaders. I will not be lectured by a bunch of morally bankrupt Marxists!
Oh, I suspect they know. But they're driven by agenda and their left wing constituency. They see themselves having reached out and being rejected. So, they, being the ones who know what's best for America, have no choice but to give us what we don't understand we need.
If the Dems want this crap so bad, they can vote for it..NOT ONE SINGLE REPUBLICAN BETTER VOTE FOR THIS CRAP..If ANY Republican votes for this deathcare, I will vote their asses out. The Dems only want Republican involvement so that they can also be blamed for the failure of his deathcare. If the Dems want it, they can go ahead and vote for it. The Republican party should have NOTHING to do with this train wreck
Paging Olympia Snowe.
Do you think they will still call Spector’s vote bi-partisan since he switched to the Dems?
I’m thinking the dems are going to need really good emergency healthcare if they try to pull this stunt.
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