Are Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid really this dumb? Apparently, they are attempting to resuscitate the seemingly dead health care reform Gargantua by keeping its most onerous provisions and shoving it through the Senate in a process that would require only 51 votes. From the story:
Earlier this week, Pelosi said she did not have the votes to pass the Senate bill through the House unchanged. And Reid, who lost his 60-vote majority on Tuesday, does not have the votes to make wholesale changes to legislation his chamber passed last month. So, leaders are considering making limited changes that can be passed using a budget process called reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate. The changes being considered track closely with the agreements House and Senate leaders made in White House meetings last week, according to a source. They include the deal with labor unions to ease the tax on high-end insurance plans, additional Medicare cuts and taxes, the elimination of a special Medicaid funding deal for Nebraska and a move to help cover the gap in seniors’ prescription drug coverage. Pelosi is also working to change the Senate provision that sets up state insurance exchanges. The House prefers a single, national exchange.
This isn’t about helping the country or the uninsured—it is about a perceived political need to pass a bill, any bill.
From a myopically political view, I cheer them on. Their success would obliterate the Democrat Party in November, which would be good for the position on bioethical and other issues about which SHS advocates. But for the country, it is a terrible idea. It will tear the last threads of comity. As a patriot, I really hope the effort fails. The people have spoken and it is time to heed their wisdom.
