House Conservatives Warn GOP Senators: Vote for Cloture ‘Same As a Vote for Obamcare

House Conservatives Warn GOP Senators: Vote for Cloture ‘Same As a Vote for Obamcare Itself’

September 27, 2013 - 12:01 AM
By Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) - A group of 21 conservative members of the House of Representatives sent a letter late Thursday to all 46 Senate Republicans warning them that if they voted for cloture on the continuing resolution in the Senate—which would put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) in a position to reinstate Obamacare funding with just 51 partisan votes--the House conservatives would consider that vote for cloture the same as if these Republican senators had voted for Obamacare itself.“As you are well aware,” the House conservatives wrote, “it is highly likely that Majority Leader Harry Reid will move to amend the House-passed CR and remove the language from the bill that defunds Obamacare before sending it back to the House.

“As you are also aware,” the conservatives wrote, “such a motion can only proceed if three-fifths of the Senate invokes cloture and allows this amendment process to begin. Simply put, the only chance that Senator Reid has to pursue this course of action is if six or more Republican Senators join the Democrats in voting to invoke cloture.

“Therefore,” the House conservatives said to every Republican senator, “it shall be our policy to regard any cloture vote that gives Senator Reid a green light to reinstate Obamacare into this CR the same as a vote for Obamacare itself.”

Last week, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted for a continuing resolution to fund the government past Monday that included language that prohibits any funds from being used to implement any provision of Obamacare or that allows any of the entitlements or benefits created under Obamacare from taking effect.

Senate Majority Leader Reid will call a cloture vote on this bill on Friday. That vote--which would allow Reid to cut off debate on the bill and move toward a final vote on passage--requires a super-majority of 60 senators. However, once cloture has been approved--because Reid has not agreed to invoke a Senate rule that would require that all amendments to the bill to also meet the 60-vote threshold--he will then be able to bring up an amendment that restores full funding for implementation of Obamacare that can be approved with only 51 votes.

Because the Senate now has 54 Democrats and 46 Republicans, Senate Republicans have the votes—if they stick together—to stop cloture. But they do not have the votes to stop an amendment to fully fund Obamacare if that amendment requires only 51 votes instead of 60.

“If Republican Senators hold strong and demand a 60-vote threshold, they can force Senator Reid to allow a vote on the bill passed in the House, without funding for ObamaCare,” said Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R.-Okla.), who authored the letter to the Senate Republicans.

“Republicans must not vote for ‘cloture’, a step which would end debate, until Harry Reid guarantees a 60-vote threshold on any amendment including his amendment to add back ObamaCare,” said Bridenstine.

“If Republicans vote for cloture, they are voting to enable Reid’s amendment to pass with a simple majority,” said Bridenstine. “This is effectively voting for ObamaCare.”
Bridenstine said that the letter was initially signed by 21 members of the House and has been delivered by hand to all Senate Republicans. Additional House members were being asked to sign the letter, he said.

In addition to Bridenstine, the original 21 signers included Dave Schweikert (R.-Ariz.), Charles Boustany, M.D. (R.-La. ), John Culberson (R.-Texas ), Steve King (R.-Iowa), Ted Yoho DVM (R.-Fla. ), Thomas Massie (R.-Ky.), Lynn Westmoreland (R.- Ga. ), Jack Kingston (R.-Ga.), Jeff Duncan (R.-S.C.), Paul Broun M.D. (R.-Ga. ), Ron DeSantis (R.-Fla.), Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.), Matt Salmon (R.-Ariz.), Steve Stockman (R.-Texas), Louie Gohmert (R.-Texas), Walter Jones (R.-N.C.), Scott Garrett (R.-N.J.), Scott Perry (R.-Pa.), Mark Meadows (R.-N.C.), Tim Huelskamp (R.-Kan.)

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...-vote-obamcare

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Senate Reaches Cloture, 79-19, on House-Passed Spending Bill

Daniel Doherty | Sep 27, 2013

Senator Ted Cruz and the rest of his “defund” crew have consistently said that a vote for cloture on the House-passed spending bill is akin to a vote for Obamacare. But unfortunately for them, the much-anticipated votes are in and the news isn’t great. As it happens, the Senate voted, 79-19, to end debate on the spending bill all but guaranteeing that the provision explicitly defunding Obamacare will be stripped -- and the amended bill eventually kicked back to the House of Representatives.

Twitchy breaks down what just happened in simplistic and easy-to-understand terms:

There were many Republicans in the Senate who voted “yes” on the continuing resolution, which is essentially a vote against defunding Obamacare. Exceeding 60 votes means there will be no more debate on the spending bill.

Having gotten the 60 votes means that Harry Reid will now only need a simple majority of votes in order to put the funding for Obamacare back into the spending bill.

In other words, Obamacare won’t be defunded. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE: Senator Cruz released the following statement:

"Today's vote by Sen. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats to fully fund Obamacare was yet the latest example of Washington not listening to the people.

"Obamacare is a 'train wreck,' a 'nightmare,' to use the words of its Democratic author and a union leader who previously supported the bill. It is the biggest job killer in America.

"As Teamsters President James Hoffa explained in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare is hurting 'millions of working men and women ... and the families they support,' and it 'will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans.'

"Senate Democrats refused to listen.

"President Obama has granted exemptions for big business and Members of Congress, but Senate Democrats refuse to grant the American people the same exemption. Instead, they used political power to maintain their privileged position while doing nothing to respond to the pleas of millions of Americans.
"But this fight continues. Now the bill returns to the House. The House showed remarkable courage voting to defund Obamacare, and I hope and believe that the House will stand by their resolve and continue to lead the effort to stop the Obamacare train wreck.

"Obamacare is killing jobs, forcing people into part-time work, causing health insurance premiums to skyrocket, and threatening the healthcare of millions of Americans.

"Today, far too many Republicans joined Harry Reid in giving the Democrats the ability to fund Obamacare. When the bill comes back to the Senate, when the House yet again stands for principle and fights for the American people, I very much hope that Senate Republicans will rise to the challenge. We are stronger when we are united, and we can defeat Obamacare only if Senate Republicans come together, stand with House Republicans, and champion the millions of Americans being harmed by this disastrous healthcare law."

UPDATE: Here are the 19 Senators who voted no:

UPDATE: In a subsequent vote, every single Democrat in the Senate voted to strip language from the bill defunding Obamacare. The vote was 54-44, according to Politico, and the House of Representatives is now expected to debate the measure as early as tomorrow. Question: Red State Dems up for re-election are really rollin' the dice on this one, huh?

UPDATE: The final vote that officially sent the bill back to the House of Representatives was also 54-44.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danield...-bill-n1711545

Obamacare and Amnesty will be the Career Ender for allot of Weak Kneed Politician's in DC; mark my words