Healthcare Summit Fraud

If the president had actually meant for the summit to lead to compromise and accommodation he would have said so up front. He knew that every Republican in Washington (not to mention an overwhelming majority of Americans) wants to toss out those two disasters that the House and Senate approved under extreme pressure.

But instead of agreeing to kill those bills and, as the Republicans have insisted, “start with a clean sheet of paper,” the president has made it clear it’s “my way or the highway.”

It was apparent to me long before the summit started that the Democratic leadership had absolutely no intention of achieving a “compromise” with the Republicans. The White House had been dropping hints for days that the president was going to set aside the velvet glove and instead take out his heaviest hammer. In this case, that means endorsing an odd legislative practice called “reconciliation” to get his health-care bill passed by both branches of Congress.

I’ve written about reconciliation before. Basically, it means rigging the rules so that legislation already approved in the Senate by 60 votes can be ratified; when it comes back from a House-Senate conference committee—by a simple majority.

Normally, neither side would attempt this when major changes have been made in a bill. But apparently the Democratics have decided that this is the only way they’re going to get Obamacare passed this year. So the heck with precedent, the public, or the outraged cries of the opposition. It’s full speed ahead.”

An Obamacare approved would be an unprecedented, dangerous and historic mistake.

I can’t imagine anything the Obamacrats could do that would stir up the opposition more than to cram this idiotic piece of legislation down our throats. You think the Tea Parties, town hall meetings and other gatherings have shown some spirited opposition? You ain’t seen nothin’ compared to what will happen if/when this happens. It’s going to take a lot more than a few hundred million in kickbacks to bully this bill through Congress. It’s going to take a few dozen acts of political suicide.

We’ve already seen the first sign that the deal is breaking down. Both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are insisting that the other one be the first to bring the bill up for a vote. Watching them toss this hot potato back and forth would be amusing, if the situation weren’t so serious. (Actually, it’s pretty amusing even so.)

I say we require all members of Congress and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. See how they boils over! I can’t think of anything that would get these pompous planners to switch sides faster. Let’s level the playing field and see how they like it.

And, let’s take away their fancy pensions and force them to join Social Security and Medicare. That will teach them to fuss with healthcare.