Added: a short discussion of repeal
I'm going to assume this guy knows what he's talking about. Here's a money quote, basically the same as I've heard from everywhere else: "reconciliation 'protections' apply only to a very narrow set of policy matters, all relating to changes in taxes, spending, or debt.
In the particular case of health care reform, some Senate Democrats are attracted to the reconciliation process because it would allow them to pass a bill even if there is unified Republican opposition, and even if as many as 9 Senate Democrats oppose the bill. It is, however, nowhere nearly as easy as these advocates might hope. They may be able to enact some parts of health care reform but not others."
Keith Hennessey goes through what happens with passage of a "normal" bill vs. a "reconciliation" bill. Quite informative.
About repeal. HotAir is discussing this today on their site: "Will repeal work?" HotAir has posted an editorial from The Washington Examiner calling for the GOP to vow repeal if ObamaCare is jammed through using the political sleight-of-hand of reconciliation.
From the Washington Examiner: "Were there not something radically wrong in the contemporary political system, President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would realize the time had come to back off, heed the clearly documented public will and adopt a more moderate position. Instead, they plunge forward, vowing to "go it alone" with only Democrat votes to pass Obamacare if necessary. . . . Like Cato the Elder, who concluded his Roman Senate speeches with the warning that "Carthage must be destroyed," Republicans should repeat at every opportunity the promise that Obamacare will be repealed in 2011 if it becomes law in 2010."
Ed Morrissey at HotAir has this to say about the issue of repeal, and I heartily agree: "The best way to derail ObamaCare is to keep it from passing now--but if it does, Republicans have to limit the damage until they control the White House and can dismantle the bill entirely."
Commenters at HotAir are bright and sometimes also hilarious:
Would the GOP need 60 votes in the Senate to repeal it, or could it be done through reconciliation?
It's been done before: Congress repealed the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 after angry mobs chased people like Rep. Rostenkowski down the street and attacked his car. That being said, repeal and defunding are clearly last-ditch strategies.
Once the reconciliation flood gates are opened anything can float through. If it takes only 51 votes to pass Obamacare, it can take only 51 votes to pass all sorts of interesting Republican items. They can even tack them on to various federal bureaucracy budgets and dare Obama to veto it and close down, say, the Dept of Education or the EPA.
I’m starting to entertain thoughts that certain well-placed liberal politicians are doing everything they can to push this country towards a “controllable” wave of civil unrest. If so, I hope they keep in mind the law of unintended consequences and the homilies about playing with fire…
We need to be saying that if they do pass it with reconciliation, then we will repeal it with reconciliation! Of course by January, Pelosi will be saying that she can’t believe that the Republicans would stoop so low as to use reconciliation on a bill like this!?! ROFL
Update. This is from one of my favorite young conservatives: "My favorite option is that the Democrats attempt to pass ObamaCare using reconciliation--and fail." You gotta love it.
Update #2. By the way, we're not allowed to call it "reconciliation" anymore--now the Democrat talking points, picked up of course by the lamestream media, are calling it "a fair up or down vote." Right. hahahahaha
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