On the morning of Christmas Eve the US Senate voted 60-39 (with Senator Bunning not voting) to pass HR 3590 – the Reid substitute bill to HR 3962 which passed the House of Representatives on November 7 with a vote of 220-215. There is actually some good news hidden in this fact. I know what you’re thinking, and “No, I’ve not lost my mind, nor have I ‘joined the dark side’.” Downsize DC points out the good news:
* The Senate and House bills will still need to be reconciled, and pass both chambers — that may be difficult
* A bill that’s passed can still be repealed, and this one will be particularly vulnerable to that possibility because . . .
* It will take years for all aspects of the bill to be implemented, and meanwhile . . .
* An election will intervene that could cost the Democrats a lot of seats
It’s important to recognize that many Congressional Democrats . . .
* Are worried about losing their jobs because of this vote
* Don’t like this bill because it doesn’t actually do any of things that were promised for this legislation.
Don’t think I’m giving the Republicans a free-pass because they voted against these two bills – they only oppose them to further perpetuate the false “left/right paradigm”. Do you remember the $400 billion Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act – the largest expansion of Medicare since the program was created in 1965? That bill wasn’t introduced or passed by a Democratic Party majority Congress, but instead was touted by President Bush and passed through a Republican Party majority Congress. So, you see, Republicans only oppose government expansion in “health care” when such plans are introduced by the other half of the duopoly.
There is still a chance to defeat any bill being sold as “health care reform”, that in reality is nothing more than a tax increase and unconstitutional mandate to purchase insurance. In fact, a compromise bill will fall short of the original goals “health care reform”. Downsize DC recounts, “The uninsured were the justification for this bill. But now we have a bill that doesn’t insure everyone — not even close. It will still leave 24 million people uninsured. http://westernexperience.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/policy-points-h-r-3590-and-h-r-4173/
This bill was also supposed to bend the cost-curve downward, but it does the exact opposite. This bill will cost the average American family $7,264.71. http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_3590.html
(Congress wants) to speak of the other so-called “benefits” of this plan…The mission was to cover the uninsured, and do so without increasing taxes or costs for the middle class.”
I’ve heard murmurs from people saying, “the bill will be struck down by the Supreme Court.” I’m not so sure, the Court has made some pretty bad rulings in the past 70 years – all of which have increased the powers of the Federal government.
In order for us to win, we MUST subscribe to “The Stockdale Paradox” – named for Admiral James Stockdale, a POW in Vietnam. The Stockdale Paradox is…”Recognizing and owning the brutal facts, while holding the determination that you’re going to win, no matter how long it takes.”
Jim Babka, President of Downsize DC said, “Victory will come at some point, if we keep fighting….The fight ends when we say it ends!”