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Sen. Thune highlighted the difficulty the Democrats may have in convincing enough of their own members to vote for a huge, expensive new entitlement on top of tax increases and Medicare cuts. He laid out how he thought the Dems would try to push it through the Senate. 1. First, they will merge the Finance and HELP Committee bills and include a clear public option. They will then try to get the bill through in regular order, meaning with a normal cloture vote requiring 60 votes. This is obviously subject to a filibuster by the Republicans if they can peel...

The details of President Obama's push for comprehensive health care reform get more baffling every day. The debate recently became even more complicated with the introduction of another term: "Reconciliation." Millions of Americans already recognize that politicians are trying to confuse the debate as a way to sneak through the most comprehensive change to our health care laws in our lifetime. That's why everyone needs to understand the "inside the beltway" procedures that liberals in Congress could use to railroad through a partisan and unpopular health care bill. What is Reconciliation? Reconciliation is a creation of the 1974 Budget Act...

House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) held a hearing this morning to certify that H.R. 3200 -- the main House Obamacare bill which was the subject of all the town hall rage in August -- has met all requirements to pass as a “budget reconciliation” measure. Under reconciliation, the bill can be passed by a simple majority vote in the Senate -- just 51 votes -- and will be given preferential treatment on the House floor as well. The Dems have apparently invoked the “nuclear option” to shut out Republicans and ensure the bill is passed before...

As the African Synod opens its second week, by now the Aula's heard a word on seemingly everything thanks to the five-minute interventions from its 250-some bishop-members and non-bishop auditors, which comprise the first part of each global assembly. But even as the delegates have heard no shortage of strong comments calling for everything from debt forgiveness and inculturation to combatting corruption and advancing a greater role for women in the church, perhaps the most emotional and profound of the bunch came Friday, when the testimony of a Rwandan religious, Sister Genevieve Uwamariya, provided the monthlong gathering's most personal reflection...

A loaded question looms over Senate health care negotiations as they enter the crucial phase between now and mid-October: What if Democrats don't win the 60 votes they need to break a GOP filibuster? The obvious answer is that they'd resort to the obscure procedural tool known as reconciliation, which would require only a 51-vote majority. For months, Democrats have talked about using reconciliation, a process designed to facilitate fast-track approval of budget bills, if they can't reach the magical number 60. But as Democrats' informal mid-October deadline for action draws near, the complexities of reconciliation are looking increasingly nasty....

Senate Republicans issued a blunt warning to their Democratic colleagues today: Don’t even think about using reconciliation to ram through a health care bill. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters that Democrats suffer a severe backlash if they used the procedural tactic, which would allow them to pass reform legislation with a bare 51 votes. This warning is not new – GOP leaders have gone so far as to call the use of this procedural maneuver a “nuclear” option – but McConnell renewed his warning amid reports that the Senate could still use reconciliation of they can’t win bipartisan support...

It is possible, but not yet clearly probable, that Senate Democrats may seek to ram through Health Care Reform without the sixty votes necessary to prevent a Republican filibuster. Although on paper Democrats had sixty Senate seats after Al Franken was admitted to the Senate that is not enough for the three fifths majority needed for cloture. Teddy Kennedy is no longer in the Senate and his seat will be filled either by hypocritical legislative action, or by a special election. Robert Byrd of West Virginia is almost 92 years old and in very frail health. His presence in the...

We will soon find out how important Obamacare REALLY is to members of the Senate. The Democrats are increasing their threats to use every means necessary to get the Health Care bill through the Senate. In other words the senate will use the "nuclear option," officially known as reconciliation. Only in the world of Washington DC politics could one of the most divisive political moves possible be called reconciliation. Reconciliation allows the senate to end debate with only 50 votes, it goes against the eSenate's customary procedure, where the time for debate is unlimited,you need 60 of them to invoke...

It now appears that Dr. Strangelove might be advising the Democrats on passing health care reform legislation without a single Republican vote or without a Filibuster. The "Strangelove" solution is to go nuclear by using a parliamentary procedure that is called Reconciliation.

Washington » Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Sunday that Democrats are proposing health care legislation that is untenable for Republicans to support and warned it would be an abuse of power if congressional leaders use a rare parliamentary tactic to force through their reform plans. "We need to work on it together," Hatch said of health care reform on NBC's Meet the Press. "But I have to tell you, they're insisting on these, I think, legislation-killing approaches that literally Republicans cannot go along with." Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the same show that Democrats are trying to seek a...

Senate Democrats said Sunday that they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes that would ordinarily be needed to overcome a filibuster. After consulting experts in Senate rules and procedure, the Democrats said they were increasingly confident that they could legislate creation of a public plan in a way that would withstand challenges expected from Republicans. Appearing Sunday on the NBC News program “Meet the Press,” Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said a...

ERIC BOLLING, GUEST HOST: The health care debate is raging across the country, facing massive GOP opposition. Now, you hear people talk a lot about reconciliation and the nuclear option when it comes to getting a bill passed. But beware of politicians speaking jargon, some of the words become more confusing. What does it really mean? Joining me now is our guest, Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and author of the best-selling book, "Guilty." Ann, thanks for coming on the program. You know, we've been watching this thing and it goes from — I don't know — a single-payer system to...

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: All right, is the plan to go nuclear? Are the Senate Democrats fed up and fired up, and are they going to invoke the nuclear option and push through health care reform? Democrats might use the nuclear option, which is slang for a parliamentary procedure called "reconciliation" to get health care reform passed.

Fascism: A tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control (Merriam-Webster) Gee, I know our brethren from the left side of the political spectrum absolutely hates it when we wild-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth conservative types accuse them of acting like, well…like fascists. But it’s hard to not make such a declarative statement when we’re being confronted daily with acts both big and small that seemingly illustrate acts that would make good old Benito “Il Duce” Mussolini blush with pride at the antics of liberals and their handlers in the Democratic Party. I think right now we’d get a hearty...

Amidst questions of whether or not any Senate Republicans will support a health care reform bill, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., today said that the “White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill.” The Reid spokesman said that “neither the White House nor the leadership have made a decision to pursue reconciliation,” the somewhat controversial legislative process by which a bill is introduced in such a manner so that it requires merely 50 votes instead of 60 to proceed to a vote, thus removing the threat of filibuster. Manley said that...

Will Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln continue to fight "as a member of the Senate Finance Committee" for a bipartisan bill, or will she heel to the Democrat leadership who want a health care plan, no matter what? The reason I ask is due to this interesting report from Politico's Glenn Thrush on how Sen. Chuck Schumer is planning use of parliamentary tricks to bypass the committee process and the 60 votes needed for cloture to pass a health care plan for President Obama. Thrush writes: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sounds like he's getting ready to play hardball this fall on...

One of the harsh realities facing the Catholic Church is the fact that many of her members no longer receive the sacrament of Confession on a regular basis. For one reason or another, many Catholics don’t feel the need to go to Confession. Let’s look at some of the common objections and discuss why the sacrament of Confession is still as relevant today as it was when Jesus instituted it 2000 years ago.“I confess my sins directly to Christ. Why do I need to go through a ‘middle man’?” This may come as a surprise to some, but the Church...

Liberal health reform advocates have talked about ramming a reform plan — including a Medicare-like public insurance option — through the Senate with only 51 Democratic votes. But a leading Senate player says it won’t work.

Pope: There's an Answer to Empty Confessionals Explains St. John Vianney's "Virtuous Circle" Secret VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging priests to not become resigned to empty confessionals, but to help people rediscover the beauty of the sacrament by deepening their understanding of the Eucharist. The Pope stated this in a letter to the priests of the world, on the occasion of the Year for Priests, which begins Friday in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, the Curé d'Ars. The saint "taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of...

The U.S. Senate, by unanimous consent, passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation, according to reports. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, one of the sponsors, said the measure was no “panacea,” but could help trigger “reconciliation.”

Stop an arcane parliamentary maneuver - "reconciliation" - and the odds improve at stopping the Democrats march toward socialized medicine. But Republicans can't do it; not alone, anyway. It's up to the legions of Tea Partiers and average Americans to win the fight. Reconciliation is aimed at dramatically restricting debate and banning filibuster on budget-related matters. It allows for a simple up or down vote. Senate Democrats are keeping it as an option if progress lags in recasting healthcare as a government-run enterprise. A good bet is that they'll invoke it. Why? Because a thorough public airing and extensive Senate...

“The Chicago approach to governing” is what Republican senator Judd Gregg calls the White House’s tactics on health-care reform: “You’re talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement, and throwing them in the Chicago River.” Gregg is referring to the administration’s plan to use reconciliation, an obscure parliamentary procedure, to pass health-care legislation this year. He isn’t alone; Republicans are up in arms over reconciliation. But the White House itself should be worried about the plan, which could result in reforms far more radical than it envisions. Reconciliation, employed just a couple of dozen times since 1980, was...

This week, there was a major development that could give one political party carte blanche to remake the country's health care system. No, it was not Arlen Specter's decision to bolt the Republican Party and caucus with Senate Democrats. For the time being, at least, Specter remains an unreliable supporter of President Obama's domestic agenda. Instead a procedural vote occurring with much less fanfare increased the likelihood of a federal government takeover of health care. Both houses of Congress passed a $3.5 trillion budget... --snip-- When it comes to Obama's health care and cap-and-trade plans, the old man still hasn't...

Compared with previous generations, the youngest of today's adult Catholics are less likely to have celebrated the sacraments that provide the foundation of the faith. A growing minority of self-identified Catholic adults haven't made their first reconciliation, received their First Communion or been confirmed, according to research from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The sacraments are at the heart of what it means to be Catholic, said Mark Gray, a CARA researcher. If fewer parents are anchoring their children in Catholicism through the sacraments, the result could be a smaller church. "To the...

If President Obama believes so much in open government, why is he trying to block an honest, open debate in Congress over his health-care scheme? Blocking debate is precisely what's behind the effort by the White House and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to fast-track health-care reform via a parliamentary trick called "reconciliation." Such a process would drastically limit the ability by Republicans and other Democrats to slow down or amend legislation that could reshape one-sixth of the US economy. And just maybe destroy the best health-care system on earth. "Reconciliation" is a parliamentary device originally intended to limit Senate...

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As Senate Democrats move closer to using reconciliation to pass health care reform this year, key GOP Senators are signaling plans to avenge the move by employing parliamentary tactics to trip up even the most noncontroversial of agenda items. Although Senate Democrats are far from reaching a consensus on the reconciliation issue, party leaders confirmed Wednesday that they are reserving the right to use it to pass health care reform if Republicans fail to negotiate in good faith. Senate Republicans — saying they have every intention of being a full partner in the upcoming health care negotiations — said holding...

RECONCILIATION = TAXATION W/O REPRESENTATION (VANITY)

WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrats have agreed to use a special process to pass sweeping healthcare reform without any Republican votes if need be, sources say. The arcane parliamentary process known as budget reconciliation allows legislation tied to the budgeting process to be passed with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote majority needed to block filibusters. Senior Democrats have agreed to use the process to pass President Barack Obama's ambitious healthcare reform measures over Republican objections if a bipartisan agreement can't be forged by September, unnamed congressional officials told Saturday's Los Angeles Times. Use of the...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq, April 24, 2009 – Deputy governors of Iraq’s Salahuddin province and more than 30 newly elected members of the provincial council and their guests came here April 20 to learn how U.S. soldiers and Iraqis are working together for peace and prosperity. The visit included a tour of the Iraqi Based Industrial Zone, the Joint Expeditionary Forensic Facility, and the headquarters of the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. Coalition personnel showcased the progressive development of the province through the partnership of coalition forces and the provincial government. The day was designed to...

Democratic Congressional leaders were putting the finishing touches Friday on a budget plan virtually certain to protect a proposed health care overhaul from Senate filibusters, an approach likely to touch off a nasty partisan fight with Republicans. Principals in the talks acknowledged that a tentative budget agreement reached Thursday night between Congressional leaders and the White House would provide for the use of the “reconciliation” procedure on a health care bill, allowing health care legislation that meets budget targets to be approved by a simple Senate majority. “It will be in there in some form,” said one top official engaged...

With solid majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats are tempted to use their political muscle to speed passage of health care legislation with minimal concessions to the Republican minority. That approach may be the only way they can fulfill President Obama’s campaign promises, but it carries high risks as well. In the budget blueprint for the coming year, Democrats may resort to an obscure procedure known as reconciliation to clear the way for Senate passage of a comprehensive health bill with a 51-vote majority, rather than the 60 votes that would otherwise be needed. “It may be a struggle...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERNSTEIN, Iraq, April 6, 2009 – The Iraqi army, aided by U.S. soldiers, helped more than 30 people here in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, on March 30 to clear their names of criminal charges against them. Army Pfc. Dennis Morey scans the retina of a man wanted by Iraqi security forces for past crimes at Forward Operating Base Bernstein, Iraq, March 31, 2009. The man turned himself in as part of a process that will clear his name and give him a fresh start, allowing him to get a job to support his family. U.S....

FOB BERNSTEIN — The Iraqi Army (IA) reconciled more than thirty people in the Salah ad-Din province with technological help from 25th Infantry Division Soldiers, March 31. Through a process that guarantees a wanted man will not be arrested unless he is guilty of murder, shaykhs and other local leaders convinced friends and family who have warrants out for their arrests to come here to reconcile their differences with the Government of Iraq. “This reconciliation is a great opportunity for those people who are wanted but innocent; some are wanted for real crimes, but some of these men never did...

The House and Senate are preparing to pass President Barack Obama's radical budget blueprint, with only minor modifications, by using (abusing would be more accurate) the budget "reconciliation" process. This process circumvents the Senate's normal rules requiring 60 votes to prevent a filibuster. Reconciliation was created by Congress in the mid-1970s to enforce deficit reduction, the opposite of what the president and his party are aiming for. The immense increase in nondefense spending and taxes, and the tripling of the national debt in Mr. Obama's budget, have been the subject of considerable scrutiny since it was announced. Mr. Obama and...

A key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he's not ruling out a controversial budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care and global warming legislation. "It could happen," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, despite his repeated concerns that doing so would damage bipartisan cooperation in the Senate. The fast-track procedure -- called "reconciliation" -- would prevent Republicans from filibustering the bills, which Baucus' committee helps write. At the confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius,Republican Sen. Mike Enzi said, "I'm afraid that if that reconciliation winds up in the budget bill, it'll be...

NEW YORK — Holy Week is the culmination of Lent, a time to repent, confess and come to Easter renewed. U.S. dioceses have been offering increased opportunities for the “confess” part.The Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Adults in New York is one of them. With the Archdiocese of New York, it sponsored 24 Hours of Confession at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and 20 Manhattan parishes on the first Friday and Saturday of March. “Thousands upon thousands of Catholics line up to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday each year,” said Mario Bruschi, the co-director of the young adults group. “Imagine if these...

Congressional Democrats are toying around with the idea of using a procedure known as “reconciliation” as a way of passing the three things that even some loyal democrats see as questionable territory. The reconciliation is named to reconcile policy with fiscal guidelines. It has been used in the past to allow President Bush to enact more then 1 trillion in tax cuts in 2001. Democrats want to use this bill to create a filibuster proof vote. Reconciliation only requires a simple majority rather then the usual 60 votes. Democrats want to make sure they get 3 items passed through in...

The move comes as the House is about to start wading through Obama's $3.6 trillion budget Wednesday. House Democratic leaders have decided against using fast-track budget rules to ram through President Obama's environmental initiative known as cap and trade, FOX News has confirmed. The move comes as the House is about to start wading through Obama's $3.6 trillion budget Wednesday. Special budget rules enable lawmakers to use what's called "reconciliation" which synchs up the tax code with each year's budget needs. Budget rules are unique in Congress. And the typical Senate option of filibustering a measure is not allowed in...

" For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I work, I understand not. For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will, is present...

THE SOUTHERN Baptist Convention voted June 20 to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.

Reconciliation With Taliban Worth Trying, Biden Says By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 10, 2009 – Though reconciliation with the Taliban is worth exploring, decisions in that regard should be left to Afghanistan’s people and government, Vice President Joe Biden said today in Brussels, Belgium. Biden is attending the meeting of the North Atlantic Council -- the principal decision-making body for the NATO alliance. During a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Biden said 5 percent of the Taliban are incorrigible and must be defeated. Another 25 percent, he added, are unsure...

DAMASCUS, Syria – Hamas called Thursday for reconciliation with supporters of rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but insisted on pursuing "resistance" against Israel. The condition appeared to preclude any agreement with Abbas, who seeks a peace deal with Israel and whose moderate Fatah faction was not among the groups that backed the statement by eight Damascus-based radical Palestinian factions including Hamas.

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God. We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the...

Rome, Jan. 16, 2009 / (CNA) -- The Vatican congregation in charge of overseeing the Sacrament of Reconciliation as well as the granting of indulgences has just finished a conference in Rome. The aim of the meeting was help people recover “the joy of the personal experience of the mercy of God” and to encourage priests to make this a priority. According to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the event, which took place January 13 and 14 was, in the words of the head of the Apostolic Penitentary, Cardinal Francis Stafford, an occasion “to offer to the men and women...

Rome, Jan 16, 2009 / 08:36 pm (CNA).- The Vatican congregation in charge of overseeing the Sacrament of Reconciliation as well as the granting of indulgences has just finished a conference in Rome. The aim of the meeting was help people recover “the joy of the personal experience of the mercy of God” and to encourage priests to make this a priority. According to the L’Osservatore Romano, the event which took place January 13 and 14 was, in the words of the head of the Apostolic Penitentary, Cardinal Francis Stafford, an occasion “to offer to the men and women of...

A Gift That is Always in Season December 20th, 2008 by Patti Maguire Armstrong People once lined up for “Cabbage Patch” dolls and “Tickle Me Elmos” before Christmas. I haven’t a clue what the gotta-have-it Christmas item is this year but there’s always a line forming somewhere for that special something.That’s exactly what Catholics used to do to go to confession on Saturdays — they got in line. Then, the “sixties” hit. All of a sudden a lot of people did not feel the need to go to confession. I do not think there were less sins being committed at...

Gaudete, gaudete, gaudete! Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! A few years back, under another screenname, I was banned from this site for bashing Catholics. Today I are one, and just went to my first Gaudete Sunday mass as an adult. While unintentional, I realize now that I was being something a couple of steps above a boor, and probably deserved it. I would like to apologize to backhoe, Jimrob, and everybody whom I may have hurt, and ask humbly for forgiveness and acceptance. I'm not around the forum much anymore, and my contributions are less than minimal, but I just wanted to...

BAGHDAD — In early November, as U.S. Soldiers looked on, Baghdad-based members of the Sons of Iraq got their monthly paychecks from a new boss: the Iraqi government. “It was a critical step in the turnover of the mostly Sunni volunteers from Coalition to Iraqi control,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kulmayer, the chief of Reconciliation and Engagement for Multi-National Corps - Iraq. “And the Baghdad transfer has become a model for similar moves in four other key provinces,” Kulmayer continued. “The government is doing the right thing. Baghdad has gone quite well, and we expect that the rest of the...

Associated Press - November 21, 2008 1:45 PM ET COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Bob Jones University is apologizing for racist policies that included a 1-time ban on interracial dating and its unwillingness to admit black students into the 1970s. In a statement posted Thursday on its Web site, the school in Greenville says its rules on race were shaped by culture instead of the Bible. The university says president Stephen Jones decided to issue the statement because he still receives questions about the school's views on race. The fundamentalist Christian university, with about 5,000 students, banned interracial dating until 2000...