HC is alive and well in Congress-Watch out!
Even after the win in MA of Sen.-elect Brown for the GOP, HC is still alive and well in Congress. You see, the loss of the 60th filibuster proof vote by the Dems in the Senate only forces the Dems to pivot and use the reconciliation process to clean up the Senate passed bill for passage by the House. In a nutshell, the steps to reach quick and successful passage of the HC legislation are as follows:
--The House temporarily sets aside the Christmas eve Senate passed HC bill
--The House & Senate leaders construct a bill that "fixes" the problems with the Senate bill to achieve the 218 votes needed in the House to pass
--The Senate takes up & passes this "fix" using the Budget reconciliation process which only takes a majority to pass & debate time limit by law of 20 hours
--The House passes the Senate passed reconciliation-fix bill
--The House passes the Senate-Christmas eve HC bill
--The House sends the Christmas eve bill to the POTUS to sign into law first, then they immediately send the fix bill for him to sign second
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The GOP can't stop the reconciliation process since it has protections under a budget law from the 70's. Also, under the current Senate make-up, Senator Reid could allow up to 9 of his members to vote against it and still pass it in the Senate. VP Biden would break the 50/50 tie vote. The only retaliation that can be done by the GOP in the Senate is the vote-a-roma that occurs before the final vote.
Remember, the limited debate time of 20 hours....a Senator can offer amdts after the 20 hours, they get a vote but no debate. So typically the Leader will grant 30 secs for Senators to at least explain the subject of the amdt before the entire Senate votes. These back-to-back votes can number in the 100's. This vote-a-roma process makes the "read the bill" campaign look like child's play. Watch the video and see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA-KKJxXbBQ
Also, just so you know, the Senate has passed 23 reconciliation bills in its history. This writer was in the Senate for 20 of those 23 bills. The average "Yea" affirmative vote to pass these bills was 67.25. It is safe to say that Leaders of the past used this process for the 20 hour time restraint it affords and not the majority passage aspect.
STAY TUNED,
Elizabeth
Capitol Hill Insight is owned and operated by Elizabeth B. Letchworth,
a retired United States Senate Officer. Elizabeth was elected 3 times by
the entire U. S. Senate to the position of U. S. Senate Secretary for the
Majority and 1 time to the position of U. S. Senate Secretary for the
Minority. Her 26+ years of experience working entirely on the floor of the
United States Senate allows her
unparallel insight into the inner workings of the United States Senate and
the United States Capitol when it comes to making laws and interpreting
how Congress will react to issues important to you and your business or
non-profit organization. So, stay tuned! Elizabeth
Currently,
Elizabeth is founder and owner of GradeGov.com. GradeGov.com is a new web
site that empowers the American public to grade their men and women who
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site that will provide free of charge to the public, the ability to grade
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