"Liberal to Push This Pig Through With or Without GOP or The Rest Of America !"

[megimoo]

Dem leaders vow to move forward on healthcare -- with or without GOP

Democratic leaders vowed to press ahead with healthcare reform after a 7.5 hour summit at the White House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised President Barack Obama for the marathon sessions, but said they would act on the Democratic proposals discussed Thursday -- with or without Republican support.

"Every Republican used the same talking points," Reid said in a brief press availability at the White House following the summit. "Time is of the essence. The American people waited five decades for this, and we are going to do this." "The fact is that...


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...or-without-gop

[Swampfox]

The Dem leaders wanted to push it through via reconciliation since Brown's election. This is nothing new. It depends if they have enough votes in the House. If they did, I think they would have done it already. The longer they talk about it, the more it hurts them. They have to know this.

[megimoo]

The Democrats' health-care ambush failed

The White House health-care summit has broadcast the policy debate, but it is difficult to see how it has changed the policy debate. Both sides generally made their cases in a civil and serious fashion. But Democrats carried a burden into the meeting. On the wrong side of political momentum, they needed a breakthrough of some sort. They didn’t get it.

President Obama, as usual, was fluent, professorial and occasionally prickly. Some are impressed by the president’s informed, academic manner. Others (myself included) find an annoying condescension in Obama’s never-ending seminar.

All the students -- I mean elected legislators -- were informed if their arguments were “legitimate” or not. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was arrogantly instructed that the “election’s over.”

There was a stature gap in the room, but not between Obama and the Republicans (as at the House Republican retreat). The stature gap was between Obama and his fellow Democrats. I would bet against any legislative team that includes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who turned in a nasty, embarrassing performance.

Republicans accomplished two purposes. They made sophisticated arguments respectfully, in contrast to the tone of a radio rant or a tweet by Sarah Palin. And Republicans made clear that they have alternative health-reform ideas, undermining the accusation that they are merely the “party of no.” They knew they were entering a trap and seemed prepared.
Two developments that preceded the summit, however, made the summit itself largely irrelevant in terms of policy debate.

First, in finally setting forth of the details of his own plan, Obama essentially dropped the major cost control component of Democratic reform -- delaying a tax increase on high-cost health plans until 2018 under pressure from unions. So the president is now promising all the goodies of health reform without a serious approach to containing health inflation. This seems transparently political and fundamentally unserious.

Second, by signaling a willingness to use reconciliation in passing a Democrat-only bill, Democratic leaders have revealed their outreach to be a pose, a sham. The purpose of reconciliation is to dramatically reduce the influence of Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Senate negotiating process. As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) reminded the president, this legislative maneuver has not been used to pass major social legislation. As Sen. Robert Byrd (R-W.V.) has pointed out, its use in this case would permanently diminish the rights of the Senate minority.


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos...care_ambu.html