The Trillion Dollar Question – Can Republicans Block the Health Care Bill?
ByBy now you probably know Harry Reid got the votes he needed for his health care bill to move forward. The trillion dollar question now is, can the Republicans possibly block the bill from making it out of the Senate?
Politico reported:
And then there are the Republicans, who vowed Saturday to try to block health reform from ever leaving the Senate.
Democrats are expecting multiple Republican amendments on hot-button issues such as medical malpractice, immigration and abortion. The challenge for Reid is finding a way to shield his members from taking politically difficult votes and to prevent the passage of a GOP amendment that could sink the entire deal.
Reid has promised a “free-wheeling, wide-open amendment process,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who added that Republicans are likely to attempt to filibuster each amendment, meaning Reid would have hold together his 60 votes time and again.
”The battle has just begun,” McConnell added. “The American people are asking us to stop this bill, and we are going to do anything and everything we can to prevent this measure from becoming law.”
Funny the way they do things – big vote on a Saturday night, done in a hurry and now they’re all heading home for Thanksgiving. So what was the rush? With any luck the Republican senators will have time to prepare for battle. I just don’t know if it’s too late. Reid said he’d use the nuclear option if necessary, and I don’t see anything stopping Reid, Pelosi and Obama from passing legislation a majority of Americans are opposed to.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Senator Reid wanted to make sure there will be a beginning of debate of the healthcare bill before Senators went home for the Thanksgiving Break…….read: before their constituents can get to them again. This way, he knows there will be debate and not a dead bill, which may have happened if the Senators had been reached by their constituents while they were home.