The House Health-Care Vote and the Constitution (Rats ready to throw out the Constitution)

Democratic congressional leaders have floated a plan to enact health-care reform by a procedure dubbed "the Slaughter solution." It is named not for the political carnage that it might inflict on their members, but for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.), chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, who proposed it. Under her proposal, Democrats would pass a rule that deems the Senate's health-care bill to have passed the House, without the House actually voting on the bill. This would enable Congress to vote on legislation that fixes flaws in the Senate health-care bill without facing a Senate filibuster, and without requiring House members to vote in favor of a Senate bill that is now politically toxic.

The Slaughter solution cannot be squared with Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution.

Senate rules protect against majoritarian overreach by allowing a determined minority to filibuster most types of legislation. The majority needs 60 votes to override a filibuster. One exception, adopted in 1974, is legislation that makes adjustments to spending or revenues to reconcile current law to a budget resolution that has passed Congress. These are called reconciliation bills, and they require only a majority vote.

Last Christmas Eve, the Senate approved a health-care bill by 60 votes, overcoming a Republican filibuster. This is the bill that contains the so-called Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana purchase, taxes on high-cost health insurance plans and coverage for abortions. Virtually no one now supports that version of the bill, but Senate Democrats no longer have enough votes to pass an alternative bill under ordinary procedures.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

THE OATH OF OFFICE TAKEN BY EACH MEMBER OF THE U.S HOUSE AND U.S. SENATE PRIOR TO TAKING THEIR SEAT.

Send this wise John Adams statement to your Congressmen and Senators, along with the question:

"Do you save the President, or do you save "the People's" liberty for generations to come?"

"Found in: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 4 (Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution) - NO. III. - paragraph 144

"Obsta principiis (translation: resist the beginnings), nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, luxury, foppery, selfishness, meanness, and downright venality swallow up the whole society."

Surely, among the remaining Democrats, there are two or three people who will stand against slavery!

When many of us grew up, we were pretty sure that Congress members had read a bill and understood it before voting on it. It never occurred to us to be otherwise.

Now, members of Congress are apparently willing to not only not show their fellow members an actual printed bill, nor let them read it and understand it, they are now pushing to not even take a recorded vote.....just say ‘it passed’.

I would sure like to believe that this is highly illegal, especially with the scope and cost of this ‘health care’ bill.

I would propose that ANY politician that votes on ANY bill is affirming/swearing that he/she has read the bill personally in it’s entire form, and that they understand what the bill says before they vote on it. Such vote must be a recorded vote—not a voice vote or anything ‘deemed to have passed’.

Any politician that votes without such due dilligence needs to be prosecuted, with EACH such vote-— even it means multiple votes on different versions of the same bill-—costing the politician a fine of $1,000,000 ONE MILLION dollars for each such vote PLUS a minimum of 5 years in prison for each such vote!!!
No reduction in money value of fine and no reduction in the time to be served. Each fine and prison term to be separate—no concurrent prison terms—all must be served consequtively. No plea bargaining. All fines separate. If there are 5 such votes, the fine will be $5 million and the time in prison will be 25 years.

They must also cough up their fines from personal funds-—no campaign funds can be used. Donations from citizens/voters are to support a candidate in serving their constituents and doing the right thing...not walking away with thousands or millions of dollars of donations after not serving as they were elected to do so.

Harsh? Perhaps.

Right now, there is no serious consequence for the out of control behavior in Congress, and I want each and every member of Congress to think long and hard about what they are doing and what it will cost them if they continue on this path.

Just voting them out isn’t enough of the cure. Letting them leave office with all the campaign funds is a jackpot for them, also. It should not be allowed to happen.

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