Harry Reid Says He Supports Passing Nationalized Health Care With 51 Votes
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, February 19, 2010, 4:00 PM
Several protesters met unpopular politicians Harry Reid and Barack Obama today in Las Vegas.
(Las Vegas Sun)
Harry Reid announced today that democrats are ready to ram Obamacare down America’s throat with just 51 votes.
The Corner reported:
Greg Sargent reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
has said that he would support holding a reconciliation vote on a public option.
Said Reid spokesman Rodell Mollineau in a written statement (emphasis Sargent’s):
Senator Reid has always and continues to support the public option as a way to drive down costs and create competition. That is why he included the measure in his original health care proposal.
If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid will work with the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes.
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Published May 23, 2012 at 11:51 pm - 69 Comments
ahem commented:
Good. Let the Revolution come.
dallasdan commented:
Bring it on, Harry. You, BO, and NP will go down in flames, to the delight of a majority of the American people.
Reaganite Republican commented:
Do it Harry, and the Dems lose 100 seats and the Senate… yourself included of course- you pompous fossil
Marsh commented:
We definitely need to reform our health care system but this plan is simply terrible. It’s unsustainable and it doesn’t even cover most people. It also hurts the poor and the economy in general and forces people to choose a health care plan they don’t want. I wish the left would just admit Obamacare is terrible and start over with saner planning. We all know Pelosi, Reid and crew are far left ideologues who care more about passing ANYTHING in order to say they passed SOMETHING to future voters rather than coming up with sound health care plan. Health care isn’t some trivial matter. It affects hundreds of millions of lives. You better make sure you throw political ideology out the window and do what’s best for the most people as possible.
Dell commented:
As you can plainly see by the comments, Harry, your days as a United States Senator are severely numbered….So, go ahead with your reconciliation plan for Obama Care and then freshen up your resume and pack up your shiite.
Jo commented:
Can’t wait for Harry to retire.
bill-tb commented:
Make our day … Repeal the bill has such a nice ring to it.
Dana White commented:
I’m actually relieved! I was concerned that Obama and company would tack right after Scott Brown’s victory. But no it is full steam ahead! El Bozo Obama promised that he was going to do a “hard tack” to jobs and that 2010 would be all about jobs. And now he’s back to health care? Good, more lies and Obama BS mean victory in the fall midterms, if the country can survive until then.
AuntieMadder commented:
See? Even little kids know we need to reduce the deficit. Perhaps that boy should be elected to replace Reid. He couldn’t do any worse than Harry has.
Major Kong commented:
I do not understand why they would keep stirring this pot unless they were trying to foment an event. This is beyond stupid, it’s calculated.
Rosemary Woodhouse commented:
It defies logic. I hate to be so cynical, but it certainly does seem that way, Major Kong, does it not?
i.m. madashell commented:
I wonder if they are trying to make the republicans ‘blink’ at the sham of a summit next week. Hopefully some republicans will grow a spine between now and then and ambush Obama somehow, but I don’t expect it. Not with the weak leaders, especially in the senate.
Major Kong commented:
Yes, Rosemary, it certainly does. I do not believe you are being cynical, however. In consideration of all that this freak show has subjected us to since Inauguration Day of last year, I consider your conclusion to be a realistic appraisal of the facts.
Dell commented:
Oh!! would someone please take that little boy into custody! He’s obviously a right-wing lunatic tea bagger, bent on destroying the country, all the while clinging to his Bible and Glock!! To the stocks with him!
AuntieMadder commented:
Dell
February 19th, 2010 | 5:05 pm | #15
Dell, I’m sure his name is being placed on the no-fly list as we speak.
Dell commented:
Auntie, that wouldn’t surprise me at all!
He DOES have the Devil in his eyes.
(They’ve said that about me, too…so I know it’s true!)
Opus #6 commented:
Overcome procedural obstacles? Like the American People? Better think twice, Democrats.
Lightwave commented:
You know what? This is an important lesson.
Legislation *should* be passed with 51 Senate votes. A simple majority.
Because when the GOP regains control of the Senate after November, they need to do away with the filibuster altogether.
And then they need to repeal Obamacare with 51 votes.
And then they need to repeal the last 80 years of liberal waste and fraud with 51 votes.
And then when Obama refuses to sign those measures, he needs to be impeached with 51 votes.
JTKell commented:
Well, I am so disgusted while worrying about these socialist nuts and what they are going to do next I can’t even think of a comment. Maybe there is something in the drinking water in washington. I really do not like to wish my life away but I cannot wait until November.
Bob commented:
Do they NOT understand how mad the American voters are? Maybe we can even get rid of Dick Durbin
Major Kong commented:
If only.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/19/oh-my-gop-ready-to-boycott-obamacare-summit/
daveinboca commented:
BTW, unless they try to change Senate rules, reconciliation is almost impossible to achieve except on tax and budget legislation. As Major Kong surmises, they are trying to get one of the Repub fossils or females to flip—Snowe has the most propensity for going postal—and give the Dems a freebie. It’s called doubling down, and some weak-kneed Repubs like Hatch and Snowe are liable to fold.
Otherwise, reconciliation means that EVERY SENTENCE needs to be vetted for policy versus tax/budget implications & if policy prevails. the sentence is dropped out of the final bill.
Militant Conservative commented:
The weasels in Washington are writting the obituary for our country. This is why so many independants and Democrat (rank and file) have come to the aid of our country. Enough of this petty ideology, WE KNOW WHAT WORKS and we’re going to drag you out and replace you to set the country to right.
Let’s hope this can be done at the ballot box.
powder is dry.
a-disgusted-former-democrat commented:
IF this is true, hell even democrats like me will never ever vote for another “D”. And I have been a loyal democrat all my life, voting for a democrat no matter what.
If these totalarian fools do this, I can tell you I am not the only democrat and/or independent who feels this way, this democrat political party is over, done!
There needs to be some changes in healthcare, but I sure as hell dont want this crap shoved down my throat!
BigJ commented:
No-vem-ber! No-vem-ber! No-vem-ber!
sandy commented:
What scum these Democrats are! Now Obama wants to go for Single Payer. This is more than a trap for Republicans if they attend that Summit. Obama will make fools of them for not wanting Single Payer. PLEASE REPUBLICANS DON’T GO.
sandy commented:
According to Dick Morris we need to concentrate on the Blue Dog Dems in the House to stop this.
Wonder if Reid was dazzled that some money is finally coming to LV to help stop the foreclosures. Course it won’t help those who begged to refinance and ended up losing their homes. But alas it wasn’t an election year when Gov. Gibbons requested the money which never arrived.
Ozark Lee commented:
I’m just waiting for “Hitler responds” on November 3rd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4aQCiRjvZY
These idiots have no idea what is about to hit them between the eyes.
…Lee
Daniel commented:
Go ahead, Harry. Strike the match. That’s it.
Here. I will hold the fuse for you nice aaaannnd steady.
Don’t worry about it, Harry, this fuse will last until November, first.
Go ahead, light the fuse …..
Robert commented:
If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid, the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option, will be overcome by procedural obstacles and fail to secure enough votes.
sandy commented:
For all those Dems who walked away before their party imploded I say smart move.
What is it that makes the rest of the Congressional Dems blindly follow an idiot who will take them over a cliff instead of listening to the constituants who elected them?
sandy commented:
This is an article by Dan Perrin of Red State. I am going to post the whole thing because it will give us — dare I say it Hope.
A Tortured History of ObamaCare
Elizabeth Drew has written a long, biased and tortured health care reform review of recent events. Two items of interest appear at the end of the article.
“Obama’s move to take the issue to the Republicans by inviting them to a half-day, bipartisan meeting at Blair House on February 25 to discuss health care—without, as the Republicans had been insisting, scrapping the pending bill and starting over—was intended to show the public (and wobbly Democrats) who the obstructionists are. (And Obama’s recent televised meeting in Maryland with House Republicans had been a big hit.)”
And second:
“Without sixty votes, the Democrats couldn’t simply reopen the Senate bill to incorporate the changes that the Democratic House and Senate leaders had agreed upon. Instead, the Senate Democrats wanted the House to adopt the Senate bill, and then both chambers would adopt a “reconciliation” bill (which would require just fifty-one votes in the Senate) that would include most of the final changes.”But House Democratic leaders, mistrusting the Senate—and not liking it, either—balked at doing that. Pelosi stated definitively that she couldn’t get enough House votes to pass the Senate bill, unless the Senate passed the reconciliation bill first. And the Senate said that the rules made it impossible to adopt the reconciliation bill first (the House disagreed). Some of the changes couldn’t be put in the reconciliation bill, which can only deal with matters that affect the budget. This would call for a third bill, which no one knows how to pull off.
“Logically, there should still be a way to get a bill passed. But logic went out the window on January 19. The situation was as much psychodrama as legislative stalemate. The perfectly reasonable argument was made to Democrats in Congress, mainly by the administration, that, having voted for the bill already, it would be worse for them to fail to pass it than to pass it, but this seemed not to be heard. If Obama didn’t exert himself for the bill on which he’d spent most of his time in office thus far, it would be not just a political catastrophe for him but leave a scar on his presidency. Longtime observers—members of Congress and people who deal with them—say they have never seen such a sour mood on Capitol Hill, affecting both members and staff alike. One longtime Democrat said to me recently:
“The moderates are paranoid, the liberals are upset, the leaders are frustrated and losing the trust of everybody. There’s no level of trust between the Senate and the House or the White House and everyone else. There has been a breakdown of the kind of chemistry you need to get this kind of thing done.”
About a week later, the same aide wrote Drew with this update:
“Every option is bad. The leaders in the House and the Senate want to get a bill but enthusiasm is waning in the rank and file. They want us to focus on jobs. Still think we can get it done but have no idea how.”
And the bold above, in a thimble, is the story of health reform: everyone thinks they can do it, everyone says they want to do it, they are convinced they should do it, but have no idea of how to do it, and nearly everyone fails to do it.
There are now reports of the Dems nearing another (umpteenth) deal. And they are “warming” to the idea of reconciliation. Expect a spate of these stories as the White House – GOP Meeting nears.
Let them try. It will end badly. But they won’t try, because they know they cannot succeed.
oldguy commented:
I’m sure there are decent Democrat senators, older ones who served in reasonable times,but I see them as the German POW’s in the series Band of Brothers. The American trooper in the truck going by the long line of prisoners calling them servile fools and asking them what did you think you were doing.
Mikey commented:
This whole reconciliation process is very scary. We all say, “the Democrats will pay the price in November.” That is all well and good except we will already have lost our freedom in our own medical decisions and other ways, as well. Mark Levin said it correctly yesterday on his radio show when he said in effect that this is governmental tyranny. It is. Government in Washington, i.e. Democrats are like Chavez or Ahmidinejad – do as we say, not as we do. This is freedom? This is NOT the America that I know and love. God save us.
eaglewingz08 commented:
So if they pass reconciliation, will the Senate in 2011 look in the exact mirror image with 60 republicans 38 democraps and two independents?
Keep it up democraps.
HA commented:
That which is passed by reconciliation can be repealed by reconciliation.
dharc commented:
When Obozo made those remarks about not going to las vegas,we lost around 130 million in cancelled convention money.Injust 2 days of Obamas visit, a no-fly zone was demanded and the air tour operators lost almost a million dollars. This idiot obama cannot do anything right,this makes us despise harry reid more and in november we will crawl on broken glass to vote that ancient fossil harry reid back to the stone age.bye bye harry.