With Harry Reid pulling the Senate vote of 60-39 to precede with floor debate of the 2,074 page healthcare bill, does he have the muscle to pass it? According to Politico, maybe not.
At least four centrists have pledged to oppose it in its current form, largely over the public option. Reid is in a bind. Stay to the left, and moderates vote no. Move a tad to the right, and Reid faces insurrection from the left, as liberals in his own caucus and in the House vow not to compromise any further on their signature issue.
- Politico
Abscind among Democrats could very well bring this bill to it’s knees; with members such as Sen. Lincoln Blanche (D-AK) & Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) who are on the fence, specifically about the proposal of a public option and publicly funded abortion.
No matter how many pages, $848,000,000,000 is a lot of money for one bill. Final passage of this massive spending plan is going to be hard sell for Sen. Reid (D-NV) who has a balancing act to preform (see pullquote)
While talking points who both parties have made been clear, over the next course of debate be ready for them to be reiterated time and time again. How will the liberal media elite cover the ensuing debate? I think it’s going to be somewhat bland, like watching a movie 3 times in a row, the cheesy lines just get annoying. Each party needs something new if they want their way, something to sway constituents.
Death & Taxes
With all the talk of reform and public options, the issue of who pays is not really being closely examined. While Republicans
brought up the issue Saturday, Democrats don’t want to talk about it because they know what their bill does. The so-called “Millionaires vs. Cadillacs” issue gives the choice of taxing Millionaires or taxing high quality plans. Democrats in the House charged away from taxing Cadillac plans (high quality plans fought for by unions over the years) for the sake of keeping a good ground with the unions. Reid, however, is relying full-force on these union plans. Ammunition for the right is that the bill raises taxes, that can’t be denied.
Senate Republicans are now calling Reid’s bill pure fraud “Bernie Madoff would really envy,” said Sen. Jon Kyl. That’s a very serious claim, but also a very true one. Will the media report and investigate?Fox News will.
An idea by Sen. Coburn (R-OK) which I think is absolutely fantastic is to have the bill read in front of the entire Senate. Senate rules allow a Senator to call for a reading of a bill, even to be read three times, before debate begins. There is no majority rules , if a Senator wants it read, it will be read, even if it takes 34 hours, or better yet 48.
In other words, this healthcare battle has just commenced. The sad thing? I’m already tired of hearing about it.
