It's online here.

He already quoted Lincoln.

Posted by: Ace at 11:56 AM | Comments (297)
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An Open Letter to the House of Representatives from the United States Senate,

Dear Revolutionary Comrades in the House of Representatives,

How. Do. You. Like. Me. Now?

With the dropping of DemonPass, order has been restored. Once again, it is the Senate's way or the highway. Which is only fair, since my Appropriations Committee does a better job of funding highways than yours does anyway (which is why my requests typically prevail in conference committee).

As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. It is not for nothing that I am the "upper chamber." I am the Master of the Universe. To put it in terms that even you can understand...I have the Power of Grayskull. You fetch Skeletor's juice boxes.

For, you see, no one on this side of the Hill takes you seriously. How could they? I am the body from which future Presidents emerge. You are the body from which Dennis Kucinich wages a constant battle against the mind control rays of Planet Nebulon Alpha VI.

In fact, were it not for how precious your antics are, I might not even keep you around at all! Sure...revenue bills have to originate within your body, but, c'mon, it's not like I was ever gonna have a problem with raising taxes over here anyway.

No...it's your insistance that you should be allowed to prevail on matters of policy that is truly amusing. Did you really think your trifling concerns on the health care bill were ever going to override mine?

After all, the founders didn't even trust you bozos to have a hand in approving nominees or ratifying treaties! In modern lingo, our Parents refused to give you the keys to the car. You will forever be counting on your more responsible big brother in the Senate to give you a ride to get to where you want to go.

Which I will be more than happy to do. Provided there isn't anything good on TV, and you cough up the gas money.

I know it has to hurt. You threw your cute little tantrum, got your panties all in a twist, and held your breath until you turned blue.

Well, I heard you did this. Truth be told I really didn't notice. It was fajita day in the Cloakroom, and pretty much all I could concentrate on was salsa, salsa, salsa!

But in the end, you are left without a say. You now have to pass the Senate's much better, wiser, and gosh darn it, handsome, legislation (which, in another sign of your penchant for adolescent, emo rage you hate) if you wish to proceed further on health care.

"But the unions hate the Cadillac tax!" you shout. Oh, you'll have time to win them over before you are up for election.

Oh that's right...you have to stand for election in November while 2/3's of the Dems in the Senate don't face voters for several more years. When you have a full 6 year term (they give anyone who is important at least 4 years) it's easy to lose track of time.

By the way, I keep meaning to ask this. Why are you hitting yourself? Do you like to hit yourself? You really should stop hitting yourself. What do you mean I am hitting you? I'm just standing in front of you, waving your arms around. It's your clenched fists hitting your goofy face that you refuse to move out of the way! Do you enjoy pain?

I digress. You have to go on record on our legislation now. Your proposed changes? Never gonna see the light of day. Well, that's not true. I may print them out and hang them on the refrigerator. Right next to the "executive order" made out of macaroni and glue that President Obama is reportedly considering giving you during recess.

You see, like your proposed changes, executive orders are just the cutest little things! They are like the finger-painting of the starfish you made, which I pointed out looked just like a turkey. "No", you insisted, "today it's a starfish!" "But it's an outline of your hand,"I said, "it looks more like a turkey!"

And then the neighbors came over, and they looked at the refrigerator. And they said "isn't that a cute Turkey!" and I said "it sure is" because I was ashamed to be associated with such a crappy piece of "art". Why do you bring such shame upon the family?

The important thing, tho, is that every time the neighbors look at the "painting" they see a turkey. And they always will, thanks to me.

Which reminds me. Remember that time you stayed up all night drawing a 1/1000 representation of the Capitol Mall on the Etch of Sketch, and before you could show it to anyone we erased it. Sure, you cried. But I laughed. So I deem that a good time was had by all.

See, who says I don't pay attention to what you little guys get up to over there.

Now be good little Representatives and follow my lead once again. Sure, people will wonder how you could vote for something you hate, but you can just tell them "because the Senate is smarter and better at legislatin' and stuff" and they will certainly understand.

Or stand up for yourselves and vote our Senate bill down. Maybe, just maybe, you could force me to start all over.

HAHAHAHAHHAH. As if. Once a red headed step-child, always a red-headed step child.

Love ya lots, lil'bro. Now fetch me a juice box.

Your Better,

The Senate

Posted by: Jack M. at 11:36 AM | Comments (70)
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Update: Washington Post reporting Demon Pass dropped.

My fear is that this means they have the votes. But then, I think that about everything.

Alternately, it could just mean they couldn't take the heat on it, and it couldn't accomplish what they wanted it to anyway.

Cardoza Threatened to Vote Against Demon Pass: He's one of the two Democrats bribed with water in the San Joaqim Valley.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) appeared to switch positions on healthcare on Saturday, saying he'd vote against a rule that deems the Senate bill as passed.

Cardoza, a previously undecided lawmaker who'd voted to pass Democrats' healthcare bill in November, said he would vote against the process his party plans to move forward on healthcare.

"I don't believe it's smart of us to pass a bill this momentous with a deemed rule," Cardoza said in a Rules Committee markup. "I want to make the announcement in the committee right now that I don't support that, and won't support a rule that does it that way."

So dropping the Demon Pass strategem, I guess, secured his vote.

...

They can't figure out what they're trying to do. Neither can I.

Here is the problem: The Senate has passed its HCR bill. If the House passes the same bill, it goes on to the president; once he signs it, the bill becomes law. But House Democrats, when they vote for the Senate bill using the “Deem & Pass” dodge, also want to simultaneously pass a package of amendments to the law. Except HCR will not, at that point, be law. It will only become law when the president signs it. Congress can amend the law — it does so all the time — but can it amend something that isn’t law?

Which is where Democrats are tripping up. Passage of their HCR proposal should be very simple: Senate passes it, House passes it, president signs it. But House Democrats are terrified of voting for the unpopular bill, so they hope to pass it by “Deem & Pass,” in which they will vote, not for the bill, but for a rule that both deems the Senate bill to have passed and, in the same vote, passes the package of amendments. So House Democrats will have two fig leaves: 1) they didn’t vote directly for the Senate bill, and 2) they voted to simultaneously amend — to “fix” — the Senate bill.

The problem is the sequence. Can the House vote to amend something that isn’t the law, as the Senate bill will not be law before the president’s signature? The Rules Committee meeting turned into mass confusion when Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman said, “We’re not going to ‘deem’ the bill passed. We’re going to pass the Senate bill…I would be against the idea of ‘deeming’ something — we either pass it or we don’t.”

To Republican ears, that sounded as if Waxman was speaking out in support of a direct vote on the Senate plan. “I hope we’re making news here,” said Republican Rep. Joe Barton. If so, Barton added, “Praise the Lord!” Other Democrats jumped in to say that no, there would not be a direct vote on the Senate bill.

I've mentioned this before, but I have trouble figuring out conceptually what they're trying to do, and if it's even ballpark legal.

The House wants Demon Pass not just (I think) to avoid a direct vote but also to bind the Senate's hands. I think their idea is that this is a two-for-one bill, and both parts must be passed by the Senate for it to become law. The Senate has already passed the underlying bill; the House wants, I think, to link the underlying bill with the reconciliation package so that if the reconciliation bill isn't passed as-is then the entire House bill (fixes plus "deemed" underlying bill) fails, and there is no bill at all agreed on by both houses and nothing, therefore, for the President to sign into law.

I think that is what they are attempting. To "deem" the Senate bill passed if and only if the House "fixes" are passed too.

This gets at the idea of a bill having to be be passed by both houses, with perfectly identical language, for it to become a law.

But here's the thing: The Senate can only use reconciliation if the Senate bill is passed by the House as-is and then signed into law by the president.

Do you see the problem? Or the contradiction the Democrats are attempting? They are attempting -- lawlessly, I think -- to both claim the Senate bill has been passed as-is and also that it has not been passed yet, not until the fixes are passed too.

It can't be both. Either the Senate bill has been passed by the House and now only awaits the President's signature to become law, or the Senate bill has not been passed yet by the House, in which case, fine, but if it hasn't been passed by the House yet it can't become law and the Senate cannot employ reconciliation at all to pass the fixes, but rather must pass such fixes (if at all) through the normal course of business, filibusters and all.

This is I think the ultimate goal here, some kind of unconstitutional fudge in which the Pelosi and Reid pretend the Senate bill has been passed as-is for one purpose (to pretend it is now a "law" and therefore reconciliation can be used) but pass it only with changes so that this supposed law can't go into effect without those changes.

Either the bill has been changed and requires further action by the Senate to approve those changes or it hasn't been changed. It can't be both.

I am nowhere near sure of this, but I think that is the logical contradiction the Democrats are struggling to overcome with fudging.

Posted by: Ace at 09:51 AM | Comments (393)
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Whoa. Promoted from the Top Headlines sidebar because I just saw it.

We are far from daylight, friends. CBS reported yesterday that the White House Office of Health Reform has been sending emails to government employees encouraging them to help pass ObamaCare.

DeParleÂ’s unsolicited emails have been regularly coming to some federal employeesÂ’ official government email inboxes for weeks without permission or request, causing some federal employees to feel threatened by the overt political language.

The Department of State employees, who receive hundreds of official government emails every day, have complained about the annoying and partisan emails but are nervous to go public for fear of retribution. The emails are addressed to the federal employees by name and use the official .gov address.

The unsolicited emails also request that the federal employees take action in order to ensure that ObamaÂ’s health reform package is passed and the federal budget isnÂ’t at risk for bankruptcy. One federal employee was so concerned about DeParleÂ’s language in one email that he questioned whether his departmentÂ’s budget would be cut or eliminated without passage of ObamaÂ’s bill. DeParle uses scare tactics that some assume are meant as threats:

This is a big no-no. Tell me, when your boss "suggests" that you do something, is it really a suggestion? There are strict ethics rules about this type of thing. DeParle's going to get away with it because she works for the president and she is technically not the boss of anyone she's sending these emails to. But, really? This scummy Democrat needs to be called out for her morally-challenged decision to intimidate federal employees on her boss' behalf.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:45 AM | Comments (39)
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Since my last count yesterday, Pelosi got Sanford Bishop, Scott Murphy, Suzanne Kosmas, Brad Ellsworth, Allen Boyd, Tom Perriello, Dina Titus and John Boccieri. (Harry Mitchell announced again, but I already counted him in the "yes" group.)

She lost Jason Altmire, John Barrow, Lincoln Davis (officially; he was already headed that way), Peter DeFazio (a surprise from "yes" to "no"), Heath Shuler, and Harry Teague.

So Nancy has 199 "definitely voting yes" congresscritters. She is 17 short of the magic number. There are 214 publicly declared "no" votes. There are 18 undecided/undeclared congressmen left (including Cuellar):

Yes votes in November now undecided:
Tim Bishop (NY-1), Mike Capuano (MA-8 ), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8 ), Bill Foster (IL-14), Baron Hill (IN-9), Paul Kanjorski (PA-11), Alan Mollohan (WV-1), Bill Owens (NY-23), Earl Pomeroy (ND-All), Nick Rahall (WV-3), Zack Space (OH-18 ), John Tierney (MA-6).

No votes in November now undecided:
Brian Baird (WA-3), Rick Boucher (VA-9), Jim Matheson (UT-2), Glenn Nye (VA-2), John Tanner (TN-8 ).

Of the maybe's left, I suspect enough have told Pelosi privately that they are voting "no" that she believes she has to peel apart Stupak's bloc to pick up the final handful of votes. That's why all the effort last night. Unfortunately, the Pro-Choice Caucus mutinied and Pelosi is running out of "maybes" to turn.

Stupak bloc of "no" votes remaining:
Bart Stupak (MI-1), Marion Berry (AR-1), Joe Cao (LA-2, Republican), Jerry Costello (IL-12), Henry Cuellar (TX-28 ), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Joe Donnelly (IN-2), Steve Driehaus (OH-1), Marcy Kaptur (OH-9), Dan Lipinski (IL-3). Cuellar is thought to be "leaning yes", but he's refusing to take the President's phone calls.

My take: Pelosi doesn't have the votes. They did a great job yesterday not letting the panic show. Many believed that something was going to be worked out, and I think something probably was...until the Pro-Choice Caucus put its foot down.

Update (11:44AM): Bill Owens will vote yes. (h/t William Amos.)

So Pelosi has 200. She needs 16. There are 17 maybes left.

Update (11:47AM): Baron Hill will vote yes. (h/t Guy Fawkes). Also, I missed Tim Bishop's announcement yesterday. He's a yes. (h/t Patrick Archibold)

So Pelosi has 202. She needs 14. There are 15 maybes left.

Reminder: it will get closer before this is over. Change your pants and tighten up those sphincters. She'll be closer than 210 before this is over. Doesn't matter if she doesn't get the 216th vote.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:21 AM | Comments (308)
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Okay, I thought this morning's press conference with Congressman Bart Stupak would settle the fate of the healthcare bill. He and the leadership were working furiously last night to work out a deal on abortion language.

It turns out the House Pro-Choice Caucus told Pelosi that if she cuts a deal with Stupak, they will vote against the whole mess: the Senate bill, the reconciliation sidecar, and any abortion provision offered to placate Stupak's bloc. So Stupak tried and Pelosi looked like she was going with it, but she's facing a mutiny if she does.

The fact that this occurred like this is great news. It means that Pelosi doesn't have the votes yet. Most counts have her a handful short. By my own count, she has to peel off some of the Stupak folks or she won't get to 216.

My final whip count and all the latest news on the healthcare vote will be up in a bit.

[DrewM]: Stupak is "finished with Pelosi". Does she have the votes without him? How many of his 'gang' stick with him?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:48 AM | Comments (144)
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Friday at last. It's been a long week and it won't be over until the botoxed lady sings. I was going to talk about the ObamaCare bill but everyone's probably burned out on it so I guess I'll break with the new all-healthcare bill-all-the-time blog format.

Oh and Happy Birthday to moronette Laceyunderalls. Hopefully she's finally old enough to give up her lamp-breaking ways.

And also a 'Happy Birthday' to logprof who's probably just trying to scam a free beer cake out of the HQ.
Update: Suspicions confirmed.

A Hero For Our Time: 6 Beers in 10 Seconds!
In the dark days that we're all living in some dude proves that the human drive to achieve is not dead - someone has finally broken the 5 beer barrier! And kept it down! Sadly the Guinness Book of world records no longer accepts records for feats involving alcohol. But thanks to YouTube we'll always know that a dude has set a new standard in speed beer consumption.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:02 PM | Comments (912)
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Okay let me say this up front... in addition to not being a lawyer, I'm not a parliamentarian and have never worked on the Hill. That said...

It looks like Nancy needs Stupak and his gang and they aren't going to take a promise of something on Wednesday for a vote today (well, Sunday).

What it looks like Stupak is asking for is to pass the underlying Senate bill and then a chance to vote on an "enrollment corrections bill". Enrollment is the process by which the bill becomes an act and then is presented to the President. In short, they have to make sure the bills are the same before the Speaker and the President of the Senate sign it to confirm it's been passed and thus ready to be acted on by the President.

These "enrollment corrections bills" are normally used to correct technical mistakes, typos or some other error that needs to be fixed before the two bills can be said to be identical and presented as one to the President.

Why is this something? Well, it would make a change to the underlying Senate health care bill (the Stupak abortion language) in a way that wouldn't, according to Stupak's thinking, have to get 60 votes in the Senate, though after reading this, (pdf) I'm not too sure.

In the Senate, a House concurrent resolution to
make changes is privileged, though if the change is substantive, it has been held that unanimous consent is required for its consideration; a Senate concurrent resolution to make changes is privileged in the Senate only if the changes are technical in nature. A Senate concurrent resolution making substantive changes would not be privileged and, if any Senator objected to its
consideration, would need to be referred to committee or go over under the rule. Senate precedents specify that concurrent resolutions used for correcting enrollment are subject to amendment, but not of a legislative or general nature, except by unanimous consent.

Why is it Slaughter House on steroids? This is a process that is generally used to make technical changes. This is a major substantive change and it's only being done to get around the 60 vote requirement in the Senate.

The thing is, even if he can get the House to pass the corrections bill there's no guarantee that it would pass in the Senate. The underlying Senate bill would still have passed the House without the Stupak language and be signed into law. It seems Stupak is really looking for a way to vote for the bill and save face on abortion.

Update: Ah ha! They have a plan...Nancy will hold the passed bill hostage until the Senate passes the Stupak language.

Right.

Imagine this, the House passes the Senate bills, the reconciliation bill and the 'corrections'/Stupak bill. Then the Senate fails to pass the Stupak bill and Nancy does what? Sits on a passed and ready to go health care bill to keep her promise to Stupak?

Stupak is the most gullible man in the world if he thinks that Nancy is going to let a passed health care reform bill rot in her desk draw to keep her word to him.

Now for the politics...

Well, Nancy ain't got 216 if this is on the table.

It's a game of chicken, if this is what will happen on Sunday. Who will blink? The pro-life Stupak gang or the Pro-choicers who are saying screw this, we'll kill health care reform over it? But would the pro-choicers really do that? The odds of the 'corrections' bill passing the Senate are pretty slim. Are they really willing to kill this whole thing on a what? 30-40% chance chance the Senate will pass Stupack? I can't believe that.

I bet Stupack or enough of his gang cave before this happens but there's no way to know at this point.

Well have a better idea tomorrow morning after Stupak holds his press conference.

Profiles in Courage: The House Democrats hate the Senate bill with a passion (hence the Slaughter Solution to avoid soiling their hands by even voting on it). Problem is they have to and then hope the Senate agrees to the reconciliation bill. If the Senate doesn't follow through, then the Senate bill, Cornhusker Kickback and all becomes law.

Harry Reid is desperately trying convince the House Dems he will follow through and do his part. To that end, he has a letter signed by members of his caucus swearing up and down that the House can trust them. Harry didn't want to publicly release the letter but now he will, just without the signatures. That should build confidence!

Reid letter via Allah

Posted by: DrewM at 05:20 PM | Comments (221)
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Stupak's vote won't come cheap -- he's willing to demand Nancy Pelosi sign a piece of paper meaning absolutely nothing at all.

BREAKING: Stupak tells me - "There was no agreement and there's no agreement until we see it in writing"

Now, maybe he mans legislation to be passed before the ObamaCare bill.

I don't think their schedule permits that.

Concurrent Resolution? Huh?

Cong DeGette just spoke to reporters following a meeting w the Speaker and pro choice women.

There is a plan to do a concurrent resolution to take the Senate bill, strike the Nelson language on abortion, and insert the Stupak language on abortion.
This does not make pro-choice women happy at all.

DeGette says pro choice women (40 of them) will not support this move, "We are holding firm this time."

If it happens that would mean that the amended bill would have to go through the Senate again.

This seems preposterous. If they do this, they have to vote through normal Senate rules, and then they'll lose all the abortion nuts.

Short Votes? enoxo points out that if Nancy Pelosi is willing to deal on abortion -- Nancy Pelosi! -- then she must be short votes.

Posted by: Ace at 03:57 PM | Comments (246)
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It's like buying a car...hey it's only $8,000! Oh you want and engine? Extra. Steering wheel? Yeah, that's gonna be a bit more.

Turns out when you add the underlying Senate bill with the reconciliation goodies and the Doc Fix, the bill creates $59 Billion in additional deficit spending. And that assumes all the other idiotic cost savings and revenue increases like the Cadillac Tax actually happen (and you know they won't ever materialize).

On the upside, the Democrats are throwing in a loss of freedom and a reduction of quality in health care at no extra cost.

Thanks Nancy!

Added: Awesome...the Democrats have added a new provision that will likely cause the need for a new and expensive "Doctor Fix" in a few years!

The Doctor Fix is what happens every year when Congress adds more money to Medicare to cover cuts in reimbursement rates that were promised back in the 90's.

Well, they did it again this time for Medicaid by adding 57 Billion dollars in spending over 10 years on primary care physicians. Thing is, that cost too much if they were honest and put it in the bill so, they promise, cross their hearts and hope to die they are only going to do it for 2 years and then zero out the funding. Yeah, and that guy isn't going to cum in your mouth. Again.

So, when the two years are up, the Docs are going to want the money to keep rolling in or they will drop all these new Medicaid patients the government is creating. And then guess what? We'll need another 'Doc Fix' for 30 Billion or so.

Posted by: DrewM at 02:58 PM | Comments (174)
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