Is There a Plan C?: ‘We Are NOT Doing a Scaled-Back Bill,’ Says House Democratic Source

One good reason for the Democrats to refuse to do a scaled-down bill is that they’d have to share the credit for such a bill with the Republicans. Apparently it’s better to have no bill at all than to have one that helps the American people but punctures the talking point that the Republicans are strictly obstructionist.

The right plan is to kill the bill.
And as one who saw the 6 minutes given to Congressman Ryan, I’m wondering when Pelosi gets to perp-walk on Fraud charges for the accounting deceptions to the nation.
Ryan gets the Gold Medal for shredding the economic lies of the bill yesterday, but you wouldn’t know it from the headlines (including here); they are all focused on politics rather than substance.
Plan C: kill the bill, start all over, go incremental and work on medical costs, not coercive government expansion.

What were the good Republican suggestions yesterday that could be incorporated into health care reform?

Let’s get’er done Dems! Forget the Reps, they opposed SS, Medicare, etc. etc. If it’s good for the middle class, we know the GOP is opposed. So, blank’em.

AMERICAN CITIZEN I THINK THEY ALREADY DO

The Bill is dead.
The only question is, when is the White house gong to realize it?
Posted by: American Citizen
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But, I thought it was such a popular bill, the only thing holding it back was those republican filibusters.
Kill it.

What were the good Republican suggestions yesterday that could be incorporated into health care reform?

I have yet to hear a democrat explain where they have the authority for forcing me to buy a DEMOCRAT approved insurance policy under the penalty of a fine or even a jail term.
.
Their employers (those pesky constituents) are getting mighty ticked. I don’t know about the HOPE part but the democrats are going to get some CHANGE come november.

The best suggestion was that Obama live up to his governmental transparency promises.. empty ones.. so far.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | Feb 26, 2010 3:24:02 PM
____________________________________
Republicans make no claims they will be ‘transparent’ in government. Never have.
If they get voted in, its’ back to all the doors being closed . . . back to the secret neo-con agendas, back to the lies that kill tens of thousands of people . . .
Obama’s transparency (this health care initiative received the most coverage of any bill in history) and booting out of lobbyists may not be perfect but its is many, many steps in the right direction.
The Republicans have promised – and will deliver – nothing.

“The Republicans have promised – and will deliver – nothing.”
The Republicans have promised to kill this disastrous legislation and appear to be winning. Republicans have the American people on their side (see polling, also see Scott “#41″ Brown’s win in MA). Republicans are – against seemingly all odds – on the verge of killing this bill! Yea!

Being better than the GOP at anything.. is not setting the bar too high.

I am very proud of the party of “No”.
They did a good job painting ObamaCare as a bill pitting Washington against the people.
Obama tried his best to cut the Repubs off everytime they talked about backdoor deals, costs, or the fact that Americans don’t want a govt takeover.
Obama failed.
And his stuttering, defensiveness, and pettiness made him look foolish.
The GOP was great!

Aren’t Bart Stupak and some like-minded Democrat representatives opposed to the language in the Senate bill allowing public funding of abortions? I don’t think their votes can be counted on by Nancy Pelosi either.

The Dems HCbill stinks so badly Obama has to bribe his own party to vote for it.
Can he pull the payoffs and still get the votes? Can he find enough idiots willing to walk the plank for him?

If Obama is so brilliant why has he boxed himself into a corner?
If he tries to pass a watered down bill just to save his legacy, his base will implode.
If he uses the Nuclear Option he loses Independents, and the majority of Americans.
That’s quite a chess game Obama is playing.
Meanwhile it looks like he doesn’t give a darn about jobs. Not too smart is it?

What were the good Republican suggestions yesterday that could be incorporated into health care reform?
Posted by: tierra
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Guess you didn’t watch.
How about buying insurance across state lines? Or how about the state incentives to lower health costs?
I seem to recall Tort reform mentioned somewhere in there too. Oh and cost controls… something that is killing Mass right now, right?
Gee Tierra, what the H3II did the Dems propose? Reid cried a lot about bringing up reconciliation.

Let’s see if we can get something straight. The government is by the people (elections) and for the people (representing our voices). I have yet to hear about, or read about ANY member of Congress-House or Senate being overrun with letters, phone calls, emails, etc. begging them to pass this healthcare fiasco of a bill (the Democrat’s condensed version). That being the case, the members who decide to ram the bill through are NOT for the people, and in November, will NOT be by the people. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al can screech all they want to about this bill being so important for the ‘people’…BULL. The ‘people’ aren’t liking what they see. This has nothing to do with the ‘people’, unless of course, those ‘people’ are sitting up on the hill wanting to pat themselves on the back for THEIR victory.
Obama did get one thing right yesterday. When he made his snide, rude, underhanded remark to McCain that the campaigning and elections were over, he was more right than he thought. Should the Dems push the bill through under the ‘my way or the highway’ pretense, the Democratic campaigning and elections will effectively be over.

Not too smart is it?
Posted by: chase
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He most certainly doesn’t think well on his feet. He’s gonna ban foreclosures? What an idiot.

How about buying insurance across state lines?
____________
Apparently you didn’t watch or you’d understand the issue, the exchanges, risk, etc. The GOP’s suggestions were woefully inadequate when it comes to actually solving problems.
Jonathan Cohn at TNR: “They called for allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines–and allowing small businesses to form associations that would be exempt from existing state regulations. The effect of such changes, as the Congressional Budget Office has noted, would be to erode benefits–to weaken, not strengthen, the protection from medical expenses insurance now provides. Senator Tom Coburn praised this transformation, suggesting the great exposure would turn people into smarter consumers. Well, it might do that. Or it might simply mean people with medical problems face even more onerous financial burdens.”
Ezra Klein at Washington Post in regards to the Republican proposal to sell across state lines: it “would reduce the price of individual health insurance coverage for people expected to have relatively low health care costs, while increasing the price of coverage for those expected to have relatively high health care costs,” CBO said. “Therefore, CBO expects that there would be an increase in the number of relatively healthy individuals, and a decrease in the number of individuals expected to have relatively high cost, who buy individual coverage.”
That is to say, the legislation would not change the number of insured Americans or save much money, but it would make insurance more expensive for the sick and cheaper for the healthy, and lead to more healthy people with insurance and fewer sick people with insurance. It’s a great proposal if you don’t ever plan to be sick, and if you don’t mind finding out that your insurer doesn’t cover your illness.

Posted by: There is no Planet B | Feb 26, 2010 5:41:28 PM
Do progressives and liberals who reference progressive/lib bloggers such as Ezra Klein and Cohn really expect to be taken seriously?
Imagine the hoots from the Left if a “right-winger” were to begin a post “Glenn Beck has said…”

“Do progressives and liberals who reference progressive/lib bloggers such as Ezra Klein and Cohn really expect to be taken seriously?”
Do fascists who have nothing but ad hominems expect to be taken seriously?
You got nothing.

Nice to see the Conservatives have basically hijacked the internet comments sections. Even on liberal sites like ABC, the Politico Huff Po. etc… You can see why Scott Brown won and why this November is going to be such a rout. Amazing that Obama, Harry and Nancy have done what Nancy promised she’d do. They are quite effective at “draining the swamp.” Later dudes!

Lee Moore, you are another IOKIYAR hypocrite. Who was it that brought us the use of reconciliation to pass major program changes?
I’ll give you a hint: it rhymes with ray gun.

Plan “C” is to hope for a “Crisis”. After all, you should never let a crisis go to waste.

It is worth noting that the Congressional leadership that support this bill are exempt from its reach thanks to a system that allows them to have excellent benefits on our dime. It is also worth noting that most of the same Democrat leadership are old enough that they will never feel the full brunt of its blow. But their children and grandchildren will.

Stupak may be a big problem for passing the Senate bill in the House, but the reverse is possible also. Reconcilliation can be used to pass the House bill in the Senate. This might actually be the more viable option, since there are surely 50 Senate votes.
Then again, the President’s great power of appointments (judgeships, FRB, etc…) could be used to buy off 25 House members, who would then retire and move up in the world after the bill passes.

When hunting tyrants, look for the words, ban and mandate.

Posted by: Mike L | Feb 27, 2010 4:43:53 PM
The problem is in your wording, all very easily shredded, though those who are with ya don’t care about nuance or truly understanding the issues anyway– so I give you points for propaganda that will dupe the angry, fearful and paranoid. (Fists in the air!! Liberty for the real people!! If this darned thing passes we’re going Galt to Canada!!)
Folks who do care about distinguishing facts from overblown lies can fact check most of your claims at Media Matters and Politifact. This is old, tired stuff that didn’t stop the House or Senate bill, and won’t stop the remaining piece of the legislation from passing either.
And don’t feel bad about not understanding how exactly your propaganda contains blatant lies. They probably didn’t explain that in the mailer you received from the insurance lobby.
LOL.

-why would people go to partisan websites when they can read the actual bill?
Sure they can read the bill, and easily identify the lies in your propaganda. works for me. One would hope they’d already read it by now– but I’m sure most just cry about ObamaCare, not realizing you define their current plans as part of ObamaCare, lol — you know, the current plans they want to protect and keep.

Lee Moore, you do realize that going through reconciliation is only possible once a session and under very strict conditions, and has no effect whatsoever on the continued ability to filibuster everything else, don’t you?
There are 290 pieces of legislation that are queued up for Senate consideration, having already passed the House. There are a considerable number of nominations pending as well. None of these are affected by the use of reconciliation, so you will still have your precious party of NO.
Posted by: Flash Override
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Taking you at your word, I did not know about ‘once a session’. That would put the dems in a pickle with no reason to not do it. So, what’s up with them?

How about doing a Constitutional Bill?
Is everyone in Congress Braindead?
Neither the U.S. Government nor the
State Governments can force any
American to buy any product
no less Health Insurance!
Supporters of the Senate Bill say that
you have to buy Auto Insurance.
Not True!
No one is required to drive a car and
therefore many Americans don’t have
Auto Insurance!
Scrap this unconstitutional bill and
stop wasting our time!