Thread: Harry Reid Says He'll Fast-Track Health Overhaul

Clay Pidgeon Harry is out of control:
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Reid Says He'll Fast-Track Health Overhaul

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 7:48 PM

WASHINGTON -- Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated Wednesday he's willing to move sweeping health care legislation through the Senate with a procedural maneuver that would block a GOP filibuster.

The prospect of the controversial tactic has already ignited Republicans' ire, and key Senate Democratic chairmen have said they don't want to do it.

Reid, D-Nev., took a different position on a conference call with reporters.

"I think it's something we need to consider," Reid said.

At issue is a so-called reconciliation bill, which could pass with a simple majority of 51 votes and without Democrats fearing a GOP filibuster. Democrats would struggle to gather 60 votes needed to break a filibuster for something as complex as a plan to meet President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the nation's health care system to cover 48 million uninsured Americans.

Revising health care in a reconciliation bill is known as fast-tracking, and has been viewed favorably by House Democrats. The House Budget Committee included the bill in its annual budget resolution released Wednesday. Reconciliation is not favored by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and was not part of his committee's plan.

White House officials reiterated Wednesday that it's not their preferred method but they don't want to take it off the table.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is attempting to write a bipartisan health care bill with his committee's top Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Baucus has said he doesn't want to resort to reconciliation.

"We have to give this bipartisan effort of Sen. Baucus a shot," Reid said, before enumerating the ways reconciliation could be done: either in a House-Senate conference committee convened to merge the chambers' budget resolutions, or by having the Senate pass a second budget resolution.

"There are a number of different ways that can be accomplished, if in fact we decide we need to do that," Reid said.

Reid also offered a novel proposal for paying for redoing the nation's health system.

He suggested using $646 billion that would be collected under a controversial Obama proposal to auction off greenhouse gas pollution allowances.

"That's exactly how much we need for the first phase of health care reform," Reid said.

Obama wants to use the $646 billion to cover extending his middle-class tax cuts _ a $400 tax credit for workers and $800 for couples _ beyond 2010. That tax cut for two years was part of the $787 billion stimulus bill Congress passed last month.

Associated Press
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/heal ... 96115.html

What is scary to us here is the possibility of his applying to the same sort of parlimentary manouver to passing an amnesty for illegal aliens.

Richard said:

What is scary to us here is the possibility of his applying to the same sort of parlimentary manouver to passing an amnesty for illegal aliens.

If that happens, I'm afraid we might need to move up to the next step on the Revolution ladder, from tea party-type protests, to non-violent civil disobedience.

Scary Harry Reid and congress all know full well that the large majority of American people are strongly opposed to amnesty. This is OUR country, they will not give it away to illegal invaders. We will take it back one way or the other. If they pull that kind of sh--, I seriously think that means peaceful protests are no longer enough.

He suggested using $646 billion that would be collected under a controversial Obama proposal to auction off greenhouse gas pollution allowances.

So Obama is all about the environment until it comes time to rake in tax dollars (pollution allowances)...

<---look at me being surprised

Yup, remember in 2007 when the Harry Reid and the Dems tried the "Clay Pidgeon" and other shenanigans to try to ram mass amnesty down our throats.