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Originally Posted by Cali Coug
No, not quite.
Senate already passed its bill. Senate then passes reconciliation bill (with 51 votes). That bill incorporates changes agreed to between House and Senate. House then passes reconciliation bill (so there is no threat they get jilted). House then passes Senate bill. Both go to the President. President first signs Senate bill, then seconds later signs reconciliation bill.
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Ok, so we really are discussing two options. You're advocating a parallel process, while what I'm hearing is a distinct two-separate-bills-one-after-the-other approach. And in fact, that's the "option 2" in
one of the links you posted, which funny enough they refer to as "fix it later."
As I said previously, I don't hear anyone suggesting the course that you just described. And I think it would be political suicide. Do you not see how nakedly partisan that would look?
I do believe Obama/Pelosi are that suicidal, especially because neither one of them has a re-election to worry about (Pelosi's not in trouble). But I'll be damned if they can get a majority of skittish House Democrats (or maybe even Senators) to commit suicide with them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Coug
There is nothing "cheating" about the process. Republicans certainly weren't shy about using reconciliation in the past (including for the Bush tax cuts, as you may recall), and it is no more "nakedly partisan" than filibustering every single thing presented by Democrats in the Senatee (what happened to the party who fought for an "up or down vote?").
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Just saw that you added this, so I'll add a response.
You're distracting from the issue. What the R's did is not going to be relevant to how the public views this particular instance. Polling shows the public hates the health care bill and sent a message via Scott Brown that they want it stopped. They're not going to bend over cheerfully just because you think the R's might've abused reconciliation in the past (which, by the way, is up for debate).
As for the "up or down vote", you know as well as I do that argument was limited to judicial appointees. Legislation can be carved up, rewritten, and compromised on. An individual cannot. Total red herring.