{"id":3097,"date":"2009-12-24T10:09:16","date_gmt":"2009-12-24T15:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=3097"},"modified":"2010-09-07T12:25:42","modified_gmt":"2010-09-07T16:25:42","slug":"bah-humbug-senate-passes-health-care-reform-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/24\/bah-humbug-senate-passes-health-care-reform-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Bah Humbug: Senate Passes Health Care Reform Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate this morning <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2009\/dec\/24\/senate-passes-health-care-legislation\/?feat=home_cube_position1\" target=\"_blank\">voted to pass<\/a> Majority Leader Harry Reid&#8217;s Health Care Reform bill&#8230; A.K.A. the single biggest crap sandwich ever foisted on Americans. The vote was 60-39 entirely along party lines with all the Democrats voting for it and Republicans voting against it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In a vote resonating with history, Senate Democrats early Christmas Eve morning passed their version of health care reform, advancing the issue further than ever before in the nation&#8217;s history and setting up a bruising stretch-run to get a final bill to President Obama next year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about people, it&#8217;s about life and death in America. It&#8217;s a question of morality, of right and wrong,&#8221; said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat. &#8220;It&#8217;s about human suffering, and given the change to relieve this suffering, we must take this chance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The party-line 60-39 vote is the midway point for the bill. It must now be reconciled with a very different House measure. Major sticking points remain, including how to treat federal payments for abortions, whether to force insurance companies to compete with a government-run public health plan and which taxes to raise to pay for the changes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The good news is this turkey is still has hurdle or two to clear before becoming law, the bad news is I don&#8217;t think it matters&#8230; The Democrats have invested far to much time and political capital in jamming their so called reforms through Congress. If liberals in the House have to, they will roll over and vote for the Senate bill <em>in toto<\/em>. Never mind what the White House is saying Democrats in Congress can not let this, um, debate drag into February, or worse, March&#8230; The closer they get to election day the less likely passage becomes.<\/p>\n<p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer will do whatever they have to do to get health care reform through the House as quickly as possible&#8230; Even if that means bribing they&#8217;re caucus into voting for the Senate bill <em>in toto<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748704254604574613992408387548.html\" target=\"_blank\">What Doctors and Patients Have to Lose Under ObamaCare<\/a> &#8211; Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Wall Street Journal<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2009\/OPINION\/12\/23\/slaughter.oppose.senate.bill\/\" target=\"_blank\">A Democrat&#8217;s view from the House: Senate bill isn&#8217;t health reform<\/a> &#8211; Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, CNN.com<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reuters.com\/james-pethokoukis\/2009\/12\/23\/surprise-healthcare-reform-may-actually-make-deficit-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\">Surprise! Gaming CBO rules masks how healthcare reform may actually make deficit worse<\/a> &#8211; James Pethokoukis, Reuters<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/hotair.com\/archives\/2009\/12\/24\/senate-passes-reid-bill-60-39\/\" target=\"_blank\">Senate passes Reid bill, 60-39<\/a> &#8211; Ed Morrissey, Hot Air<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate this morning voted to pass Majority Leader Harry Reid&#8217;s Health Care Reform bill&#8230; A.K.A. the single biggest crap sandwich ever foisted on Americans. The vote was 60-39 entirely along party lines with all the Democrats voting for it and Republicans voting against it: In a vote resonating with history, Senate Democrats early Christmas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,7],"tags":[161,781,131,185,760],"class_list":["post-3097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-health-care","category-politics","tag-harry-reid","tag-health-care-reform","tag-nancy-pelosi","tag-senate","tag-steny-hoyer","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-NX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2833,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/07\/harry-reid-likely-to-make-entire-health-bill-an-amendment-to-unrelated-tax-bill-that-house-passed-in-march\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":0},"title":"Harry Reid &#8216;Likely&#8217; to Make Entire Health Bill an Amendment to Unrelated Tax Bill That House Passed in March","author":"Jeff","date":"October 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"CNSNews.com is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry is 'likely' to use a tax bill passed by the House in March as shell for enacting the Senate health care bill: A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is \u201clikely\u201d that Reid will use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health Care&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2681,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/02\/wsj-democrats-try-tougher-tone-on-health-plan\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":1},"title":"WSJ: Democrats Try Tougher Tone on Health Plan","author":"Jeff","date":"September 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This isn't really news to political junkies like me but it is a page A3 above the fold story in today's Wall Street Journal: A top White House adviser said Tuesday he doubts two Senate Republicans at the center of health-care talks are negotiating seriously, as Democrats adopted a new,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health Care&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2888,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/27\/joe-lieberman-ill-block-vote-on-harry-reids-health-care-reform-plan\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":2},"title":"Joe Lieberman: I&#8217;ll Block Vote on Harry Reid&#8217;s Health Care Reform Plan","author":"Jeff","date":"October 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From Politico: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he\u2019d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid\u2019s health care reform bill. Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health Care&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3163,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/11\/boston-herald-democrats-would-stall-brown-to-pass-health-care-reform\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":3},"title":"Boston Herald: Democrats Would Stall Brown to Pass Health Care Reform","author":"Jeff","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There's and editorial in today's Wall Street Journal titled \"The 60th Senate Vote\". It details what's at stake in the January 19, special election to fill the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy... in short, should Republican Scott Brown win he be the 41st Republican in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culture of Corruption&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culture of Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture-of-corruption\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/23\/no-health-care-vote-before-august-recess\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":4},"title":"Reid: No Health Care Vote Before August Recess","author":"Jeff","date":"July 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively pulled the rug out from under Pres. Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today by announcing that the Senate will wait until the fall to debate and vote on the presidents health care reform proposals: Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday abandoned plans for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Economy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3058,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/16\/tom-coburn-fires-warning-shot-across-harry-reids-bow\/","url_meta":{"origin":3097,"position":5},"title":"Tom Coburn Fires Warning Shot Across Harry Reid&#8217;s Bow","author":"Jeff","date":"December 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Things got little interesting in the Senate earlier today when Senator Tom Coburn fired what can best be called a warning shot across Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bow. Sen. Coburn refused to allow unanimous consent on Sen. Bernie Sander's single payer amendment to the health care reform bill and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health Care&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health Care","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/health-care\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}