http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41149463/ns/politics-capitol_hill
The Republican-controlled House has voted to repeal the nation's year-old health care law, clearing the way for the second phase of the "repeal and replace" promise that victorious Republicans made to the voters last fall.
The repeal, which was passed by a vote of 245 to 189, has little or no chance of passing the Senate, where Democratic supporters of the law have the majority. And Obama has vowed to veto it if it reaches his desk.
This was a good vote, and, in my opinion, it makes it more likely that the Supreme Court will rule the law unconstitutional. Why do I say this? Well, the law is massively disliked by the public, more than half the states are suing to have it overturned, and now one chamber of Congress has approved its repeal. I'm not saying the justices are slaves to public opinion, but they can hardly be blind to such massive opposition to this law.
Common wisdom is that the repeal bill won't be passed by the Senate. In fact, it won't even be VOTED ON in the Senate. It will be assigned to a committee and rot there, ignored by the Democrats in charge of the Senate. And make no mistake, if the bill gets to a committee, we'll never see it again.
But there is a way to get the bill heard by the Senate. It's called "holding at the desk."
Once the House bill reaches the Senate, it only takes one Senator objecting to the second reading (Rule 14) to have it "held at the desk." This action prevents it from being sent to committee, and puts it on the Senate calendar. Theoretically, majority leader Reid could put it on the calendar at any time, but we know that isn't going to happen. However, any Senator can use Rule 22 to take any bill that is "held at the desk" and open debate on it.
So you see, there IS a way to open debate in the Senate and possibly get a full-Senate vote on the bill. It's up to Republican Senators to take the necessary actions. If they don't, and if the bill hits committee, it's dead until the next election. The Democrats won't allow that bill to surface again, under any circumstances.
For more details on this method, please read this piece by the Heritage Foundation.
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/18/how-to-repeal-obamacare-in-the-senate/
Tell Senators Shelby and Sessions about the "holding at the desk" rule and see if either one responds.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that two different versions of the bill would have more Democratic support. First, remove the business requirements for additional paperwork...and I think you'd get 15 Democratic Senators to support a short bill to eliminate that only.
ReplyDeleteThen toss up a short bill that removed this as a requirement for every American (the mandatory nature), and I suspect you could get a dozen Democratic Senators for that portion.
I don't think the Republicans will dare to perform either action....wanting this as a 2012 election topic against the President.
Ripley, you may be right on their intent, to keep the insurance issue alive until 2012. Hmmm...
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