I think yesterday’s election helped the chance that Obamacare would pass in the House, but that, along with the general conservative success throughout the country, distinctly hurts its chances in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid seems to think so too, as top Democrats predict the deed will not be done this year. From the story:
Senior Congressional Democrats told ABC News today it is highly unlikely that a health care reform bill will be completed this year, just a week after President Barack Obama declared he was “absolutely confident” he’ll be able to sign one by then. “Getting this done by the by the end of the year is a no-go,” a senior Democratic leadership aide told ABC News. Two other key Congressional Democrats also told ABC News the same thing…
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may still be confident — and her spokesman Brendan Daly said today, “We are going to get our part done” — but the reason for the delay can be found in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has yet to release the bill he eventually plans to bring to the Senate floor. Reid is still waiting for the Congressional Budget Office to come up with an estimated cost of several possible variations of his bill before deciding which one to introduce in the Senate. That cost estimate, Democrats tell ABC News, is not expected until next week.
Asked directly by ABC News, “Will you pass health care reform this year?” Reid pointedly did not answer “yes.” Instead, he replied, “We are not going to be bound by any timetables,” adding, “We are going to do this as quickly as we can.” The delay is causing some frustration among Reid’s fellow Democrats, but Reid said of his colleagues, “They want us to do this the right way, not the fast way.”
It is worth noting that Reid is the same guy who tried to stuff this down our collective throats by the summer recess–which apparently means he hasn’t cared about getting it “right” before. That point aside, if Obamacare is in trouble–which it is, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pass–it is because it is an unaffordable, rationing imposing, bureaucracy imposing, Byzantine behemoth–a raw power grab that will destroy what is good about our health care system without truly fixing what is bad.
Reform is needed, no question. But if we want to do it “the right way,” it is time to put this monstrosity out of our misery and start again with reform that kills fewer trees.
November 4th, 2009 | 2:24 pm
I’m not so sure it hurts in the Senate. Folks like Blanche Lincoln may look at the vote as a sign that they’re toast whether or not they vote for ObamaCare. If they vote for it, they’ll lose their seats but be set for life in some sort of Dem/labor gig. If they vote against it, they’ll lose their seats anyway and be shunned by such potential future employers. So it’s not clear to me what they’ll do now. Closer elections last night may have actually been worse for the Congressional leadership than these blowouts. We’ll have to wait and see…
November 4th, 2009 | 4:38 pm
This probably hurts Reid here in Nevada. He’s in big trouble now and running a bunch of ads here a year out, including during the World Series. There are three good (pro-life) candidates running for his job. Hopefully they don’t destroy each other and the winner can send him back to Searchlight.
November 4th, 2009 | 5:07 pm
Its not over until the fat lady sings. Please realize that Congress is still in session.
I think it was Mark Twain (or was it H.L. Mencken?) who said that no one is safe as long as Congress is in session.
November 4th, 2009 | 10:25 pm
Isn’t Harry Reid the one who said we lost the war, and various other mots counter to the morale of the country and of those in uniform who’d put their lives on the line for his right to open his mouth?
“Health care” is NONE of the government’s business. Neither is what anyone has for dinner, how anyone chooses to make a living as long as it’s legal, what color clothes one wears, ETC. “Reform?” Reform WHAT? What IS ‘health care’ in the first place? What does “reform” mean? Who’s supposed to do it? Is it even supposed to be done? AND– How did the damned government get into this in the first place? THAT’s the interesting question. And what’s wrong with people that they’re willing to allow it? Let alone want it?
November 5th, 2009 | 2:45 pm
Reid also said that opponents of his health care plans or parts of it are evil mongers etc. He also says he’s pro-life though he’s opposed conscience clauses, anti-coercision bills, supports funding of abortion overseas and he’s shilling for and lying about the abortion provisions in this bill. He also said he could support a health care plan that would fund abortion. No wonder Planned Parenthood named him a Nevada Legislator of the year.
November 6th, 2009 | 1:58 am
Evil mongers? Now if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black. I once wrote in the margin of my copy of a judge’s decision something about the judge’s brain damage, referring to something I’d seen in astrological terms, and it was inadvertantly included in an exhibit to subsequent papers and exacerbated a situation…but Reid…Nevada…has a bunch of toxic stuff or nuclear fallout ended up in Nevada, and maybe he absorbed some. It stands to reason, similarly, that the environmentalists, who are right about toxic pollution and damage to the earth and its inhabitants including ourselves, and wacko contingent in Washington, D.C. of which Reid is part, are themselves toxic, having absorbed that of which they rightly complain. Thus they must be removed from office and replaced by those whom the principle of like attracts like has not affected as it has them.
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