Posted on 01/19/2011 3:46:26 PM PST by matt1234
The Senate's top Republican promised a vote in that chamber to repeal healthcare reform following a successful House vote on such legislation Wednesday evening.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would "assure" a Senate vote on legislation to undo Democrats' healthcare reform law, despite Senate Democrats' opposition to holding such a vote.
"I want to congratulate our colleagues in the House on this important first step. I hope the Senate will soon follow suit with a vote of its own," McConnell said in a video release following the successful 245-189 vote in the House to repeal the healthcare law.
“The Democratic leadership in the Senate doesn’t want to vote on this bill," McConnell added. "But I assure you, we will."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
We can defund it if we can’t repeal it.
That is likely. But 0bama will be pissed at the Senate for putting him on the spot. He will have to veto the repeal to keep something the voters don’t want. That can’t help his re-election effort.
Obama might not be able to do that. Particularly if it is attached to the Budget.... uhhh huuua. :)
Hehe I am with you there. iPhones do not like FR’s text boxes..... >.<
We can defund it if we can’t repeal it.
_________________________________________________
Absolutely!
“And I don’t think the Democrats want to be seen as the Party of NO in the face of opposition from the American people.”
EXACTLY. My dream is for the Republicans to run against the “DO NOTHING SENATE”. I cannot think of a better campaign theme for 2012.
Forget the vote, just deem it repealed and then deem it signed by Obama and be done with it. And why stop there, just deem Obama and Biden impeached and put Boehner in charge, who can then deem Sarah Palin as his veep.
Step 1: House passes repeal of 0bamacare
Step 2: Senate passes repeal 0bamacare with a few
Democrats voting for repeal in order to save their
asses in November 2012
Step 3: 0bama vetos. Veto is upheld.
Step 4: House of Representatives defunds 0bamacare with
popular support.
Bottom line excerpt from Heritage article below:
“If the supporters of a full repeal of Obamacare don’t use the Senate’s rules to force a vote on full repeal, ____don’t take them seriously____ when they say they are really want to repeal President Obama’s de facto government takeover of health care.” bttt
How to Repeal Obamacare in the Senate
Heritage ^ | 1/18/11 | Brian Darling
Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 3:11:46 PM by markomalley
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2659142/posts
This week the House will pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. Congressional experts will argue that the Senate won’t pass a full repeal. They are correct to argue that full repeal will not be passed by both the House and Senate in the next few months, but they may be wrong that a full repeal bill will not pass in this Congress within the next two years. If Senators don’t take two procedural steps this week, they will make it virtually impossible to ever get a vote on the House-passed full repeal bill this Congress.
The House will pass H.R. 2 this week. Once that bill is passed, it will be sent to the Senate for consideration. Once the Senate receives the bill, any Senator can use Rule 14 to object to the second reading of the bill. This procedural objection will “hold at the desk” the House-passed bill and allow the Senate to act on the full repeal measure.
If the bill is referred to committee, it will never get to the Senate floor. This procedural objection by one or a number of Senators will stop the bill from being referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP). If the bill is referred to committee, there is little to no expectation that the committee will pass the bill, let alone have one hearing on the bill.
Objecting to Rule 14 would hold the bill at the desk of the Senate and would put H.R. 2 on the Senate calendar. This procedure could be done with a letter or call from one Senator to the party leader. This would allow the Senate Majority Leader to commence debate on the matter when he so chooses. It is unlikely that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) would move to proceed to the bill, yet there is a procedure that any Senator can use to force a debate.
Any Senator can use Rule 22 to commence debate on H.R. 2 if they have held the bill at the desk. Rule 22, the filibuster rule, states:
Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question: “Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?”
And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and swornexcept on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and votingthen said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.
If any Senator can gather 16 signatures on a cloture petition, then they could file that petition with the clerk of the Senate. This would commence a proceeding that would end with a vote requiring 60 votes to shut off debate on a motion to proceed to a full repeal of Obamacare within two days of the filing of the petition. It is expected that Senate liberals would use Rule 22 to filibuster a full repeal of Obamacare. This would put many Senate Democrats in the interesting situation of voicing support for so-called “filibuster reform” while at the same time using the filibuster rule to block an up or down vote on Obamacare.
Once a bill is held at the desk, they can gather 16 signatures, then wait until the appropriate time to file cloture. They could do so next week or next year. If the courts continue to declare parts of Obamacare unconstitutional and the American people continue to despise this law, then the probability of full repeal may go up over time. At a minimum, Senators have the power to force a vote on full repeal of Obamacare if they have the will to do so.
If the supporters of a full repeal of Obamacare don’t use the Senate’s rules to force a vote on full repeal, don’t take them seriously when they say they are really want to repeal President Obama’s de facto government takeover of health care.
When the republicans pass the “health care bill” they have in mind, I hope they keep it really simple and a few pages and let everyone read it first and comment.
Thank you for explaining! I had read about Rule 14 but not the details. So there IS a path to a vote.
If McConnell and the Senate Republicans get a vote on it, I may develop respect and admiration and...dare I say it, high hopes...for the current Republican Party. Maybe they did acquire a taste for tea after all?
I look for Snowe, Collins, Graham, and Lieberman also to vote with the Dim’s.....
Time to BURN up the Phone lines to Washington,lets go!
The new bill is one page long. Who can object to that?
Zactly!
How to Repeal Obamacare in the Senate
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/18/how-to-repeal-obamacare-in-the-senate/print/
We are about to find out if the Senate Republicans have any intestinal fortitude.
One certainly hopes they do!
New England isn't a state.
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