Tag Archives: Senate

The Illogic And Injustice Of Deem And Pass

Law professor and former Tenth Circuit judge Michael McConnell puts the issue succinctly on Speaker Pelosi’s proposed “deem and pass” scheme. I don’t have a WSJ subscription, but fortunately, Michael Cannon does, and he has excerpted the pertinent analysis:

Under Article I, Section 7, passage of one bill cannot be deemed to be enactment of another.

The Slaughter solution attempts to allow the House to pass the Senate bill, plus a bill amending it, with a single vote. The senators would then vote only on the amendatory bill. But this means that no single bill will have passed both houses in the same form. As the Supreme Court wrote in Clinton v. City of New York (1998), a bill containing the “exact text” must be approved by one house; the other house must approve “precisely the same text.”

So, It’s Reconciliation Then

President Obama all but hinted today that he is prepared to go the reconciliation route to get health care reform. As I have argued before, this is not a proper use of the reconciliation procedure. Megan McArdle and others have pointed out that reconciliation is designed to bring revenues in line with budgetary outlays, to reconcile, in other words. It is not meant to push forth new social programs. Thus, while tax increases and cuts can be pushed through via the reconciliation process, health care reform clearly cannot. Yes, health care packages have been pushed through via the reconciliation process in the past, but this effort has less to do with bringing revenues in line with outlays, and more to do with circumventing the fact that Democrats no longer have a 60 vote majority in the Senate.

Of course, it is worth noting that once upon a time, Barack Obama agreed that transformative change of the type embodied by his health care reform package, could not possibly go through except via a supermajority:

How times have changed.

Once Upon A Time, “Majoritarian Absolute Power” Was A Bad Thing

But now, many of the Senators–and former Senators–featured in this video, think that “majoritarian absolute power” would be nothing short of wonderful:

You just have to love Joe Biden’s quote: “I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don’t make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.” Enjoy the irony.

The Renewed Push For A Public Option

Senate Democrats are trying very hard to bring the public option back to life, and got a big shot in the arm when Charles Schumer signed on to their efforts. Since Schumer presumably picks his fights carefully, his endorsement of the public option was seen as a very big deal.

But as Jonathan Cohn–himself a supporter of the public option–points out, reviving the public option could be a trap.

Are Democrats really sure that they want to do this?

Reconciliation Is Back?

The use of reconciliation to pass health care reform through the Senate would be entirely contrary to the purposes of the reconciliation process. There is, of course, every reason to think that Democrats won’t have the stomach to go through with reconciliation; the process is a lot more complicated than people think it is. Reconciliation would force Democrats to pare down their health care goals. And an attempt to use reconciliation to push through health care would destroy all hopes of bipartisan cooperation on other issues in Congress. I am sure that there are Democrats for whom none of this serves as a deterrent to using reconciliation, but plenty of other Democrats will be terrified by the consequences of reconciliation. As they ought to be.

A Republican Senate: No Longer Just A Dream

With every passing day, it seems that Democratic prospects to maintain the Senate are further imperiled.

Quote Of The Day

“There will be those Democrats who bid good riddance to Bayh and his coal-burning-state apostasy about cap and trade, etc. If so, they won’t need a very big tent to contain the celebration.”

Bayh Bayh

Evan Bayh’s decision to retire has to shock Democrats, and delight Republicans.

Shorter Carl Hulse

“Harry Reid pulled a jobs bill that enjoys bipartisan support and White House backing because he was afraid of having Democrats beat up on politically. In doing so, he managed to anger just about everyone.”

Jobs Are Less Important Than Politics

So sayeth Harry Reid:

In Defense of the Filibuster: Democracy’s Sobriety Checkpoint

A Senate majority large enough to break a filibuster takes time and geographically broad-based appeal to develop, as it should – even the high Democratic tides of 2006 and 2008 weren’t robust enough to provide the margin of error against the death of a single Senator derailing the 60-vote majority. There is no reason why our system should disregard its longstanding defenses against the perpetual rule of a single election cycle’s fleeting majorities.

Is America Governable?

Is America governable? Why, of course it is, Paul Krugman’s histrionics notwithstanding. But to the extent that President Obama has had problems governing it, he need only look into the mirror to find a culprit for his Administration’s political failings, as Jay Cost points out.

- March 22, 2010 -

MORE LEDGER

ELSEWHERE ON TNL

DAILY READS

MARKETS & POLICY

The WHIP

HEGEMON

CHEQUER BOARD