Hissy Fit
As the passage of health care reform becomes more and more likely, the Republican hissy fits have become more and more vehement and more dishonest. First the Republicans were throwing public tantrums about the use of reconciliation, despite the fact that reconciliation had been used multiple times by Republicans (ones currently servng in the Senate). Their latest hissy fit is about the “deem and pass” or self-executing rule the so-called “Slaughter House rule” in which the House would deem the Senate bill passed along with the reconciliation sidecar.
Some Republicans like Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann have been screaming that this is unConstitutional and that they will challenge the law in court if it is passed in this fashion. Now I might have some sympathy for the argument about using an odd procedure – I don’t understand why they just don’t pass both bills, voting on one just seems silly. However, this procedural move is nothing new and was used multiple times when Republicans controlled Congress and has been used multiple times in the current Congress without a peep of protest. I’ll let Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute explain (shrilly):
Any veteran observer of Congress is used to the rampant hypocrisy over the use of parliamentary procedures that shifts totally from one side to the other as a majority moves to minority status, and vice versa. But I can’t recall a level of feigned indignation nearly as great as what we are seeing now from congressional Republicans and their acolytes at the Wall Street Journal, and on blogs, talk radio, and cable news. It reached a ridiculous level of misinformation and disinformation over the use of reconciliation, and now threatens to top that level over the projected use of a self-executing rule by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the last Congress that Republicans controlled, from 2005 to 2006, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier used the self-executing rule more than 35 times, and was no stranger to the concept of “deem and pass.” That strategy, then decried by the House Democrats who are now using it, and now being called unconstitutional by WSJ editorialists, was defended by House Republicans in court (and upheld). Dreier used it for a $40 billion deficit reduction package so that his fellow GOPers could avoid an embarrassing vote on immigration. I don’t like self-executing rules by either party—I prefer the “regular order”—so I am not going to say this is a great idea by the Democrats. But even so—is there no shame anymore?
No Norm, there is no shame anymore and the Republican noise machine has made this a front page story in the mainstream media.
“the Republican hissy fits have become more and more vehement and more dishonest.” And so have Obomba’s with more lies such as this bill will lower premiums by “3,000 percent.”
I can’t wait to see the responses to Kucinich’s presser today where he’s going to announce that he’s voting yes on the bill.
Republicans are driving normally calm pundits to the heights of shrillness:
I don’t mean to go all Andy Rooney on you, but did you ever notice, there’s one aspect of this whole debate that Republicans consistantly shy away from? The actual facts of the bill. And once the thing gets passed, and we get past the end of this year, you know the only thing that will matter to anyone? The actual facts of the bill. In the real world, people don’t care about congressional procedure, they just care if the bill is good, and it helps them. This will, and the Republican Party will pay for it for a long time. That’s why they’re scared.
I can’t wait to see the responses to Kucinich’s presser today where he’s going to announce that he’s voting yes on the bill.
I’ll be checking DL and dKos for retractions and apologies.
LOL, you’ll be waiting a long time. I expect insults directed at Kucinich.
You’re right Scott, no one will care. In fact, yesterday there was a long NPR piece on the fight over Clinton’s 1993 budget (you know, the one that gave us a surplus). It was passed with reconciliation and the Republicans jeered one Congresswoman as she cast the deciding vote, saying she’d be a one-termer (they were right about that). Did any of you remember it was passed through reconciliation?
The actual facts of the bill and Obomba’s lies are what the writers at Delaware Liberal all shy away from.
Anon,
I will congratulate Dennis Kucinich on his FINALLY seeing the light, and I will thank him for his vote. I will not apologize or retract anything said about him, because it was that pressure, and it was that discussion that embarrassed him into voting yes in the first place. Hopefully, going forward, he will be a more effective legislator.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Yes, we are close, but I am not convinced that this will get done. And if it doesn’t pass by Easter, I think Obama declares it dead and gets on with some serious jobs legislation.
Rightly or wrongly, I think there are many employers out there that won’t hire unless they see some resolution to the healthcare reform issue. Declaring it dead if it doesn’t pass soon will clear that roadblock and give the jobs number a boost. Pass or fail, those jobs start getting filled, but continuing the fight for another 2 months will cause serious political and economic malaise.