Rep. Scott Garrett’s Reconciliation Primer
The Byrd Rule
While reconciliation seems impenetrable, there are measures in place to ensure topics in the limited debate directly relate to the budgetary issues at hand. The most notable measure, and a term that has been thrown around a lot lately, is the “Byrd Rule,” named after Senator Robert Byrd. The “Byrd Rule” is a 1990 amendment to the Budget Act that prohibits “extraneous” provisions from being included in a reconciliation bill. Essentially, a provision must have an impact on the budget to be included in a reconciliation bill. The “Byrd Rule” also prohibits changes to Social Security, even that have a budget impact, from being included in a reconciliation bill.
If the Democrat leadership decides to go with reconciliation, many components of the health care legislation, especially the government option, are particularly vulnerable to removal by tenets of the Byrd Rule. If the Byrd Rule is used correctly, the health care bill that emerges from the Senate might resemble a shell of its former self.
The timeline for this process is as follows: The House of Representatives would pass the Senate health care bill, including kickbacks and back-room deals that had to be made in order for it to pass the Senate. After that, the House would pass a reconciliation bill with revisions to the Senate bill, and then the Senate would take up the reconciliation bill. In the end, there are two bills that would be enacted — the health care bill and then the revisions to the health care bill.
There have been twenty-two instances of reconciliation bills passed by Congress. These bills were much closer to the nature of the rule, to make budgetary policy and making the tax and spending changes recommended by the budget resolution, not a backdoor tactic to pass controversial legislation.
Bipartisan Opposition
The health care proposal is receiving bipartisan opposition and only partisan support. The president can’t even keep his own party convinced to stay on board. Americans across the country have banded together and demanded that Congress consider new ideas which include cutting spending.
The Democrat majority wants to blame a lack of “getting things done” in Washington on an obstructionist minority. In reality, ensuring deliberate consideration of legislation was a great part of the reasons we have separated powers. We have separation from the state and federal levels, separation of powers in the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of government, and a bicameral legislature. The purpose of all of this — slowing down the decision making process.
Citizens across our country have organized into many groups who are calling for slowing down the legislative process. Ideas need to be worked out, argued over, and compromised on. The idea of “pushing through” the currently proposed health care bill goes against every instinct of American democracy.
What Dems. leadership is doing to this country is just insane. No normal, sane, elected leader of this country would ever try to ram through a Bill without some support from the otherside. I am disgusted with this Congress and more so with this President. We need JOBS and a growing economy. START OVER. KILL THIS HEALTH BILL NOW and move on.
Thank you Rep. Garrett. I met you at Allamuchy Day last year – proud to have you as my Representative.
Please keep up the good fight – we’ll be sending many reinforcements shortly.
What this congress does to this country is a travesty. It’s a spit in the face of every man, woman and child who where raised on thoughts and principals of democracy.
KILL THE BILL!!!!! Start OVER!!!!
Why would Americans let their country go down the drain just to help the president save face. Who cares about his face or his legacy. Scrap the bill and move on. The country is literally about to go bankrupt. This is not the time to make a costly health care bill.
And please stop the talk about compromise and reaching across the isle. You do not sell your soul just to uphold a phony principle of bipartisanship. There is no such thing as compromise on stupidity. If one party want’s to violate the constitution, the other party just say no. No compromise. You do not meet them half way. The republicans does not have to engage in talks about reaching a compromise about healthcare. Who cares if you are party of no? Will that make you lose votes? No it wont! Being the party of no on healthcare, is the ticket to a massive landslide victory come next election. If the democrats say: “You’re the party no” just answer: “Yes, what’s your point? We are the party of no, because you are the party of ridiculous legislation”
Well…..frankly, I think we need a good ole fashioned “tickle party” ahlala…Massa…relieve a little tension there in Washington….
And what the neck do we have rules for if you are just going to do what you want to, because you don’t like something you circumvent it…
..reconciliation is a bad move for someting so important!!
Drop the bill! This mess is un-American, in more ways than one.
Reconciliation is not possible when those that govern make themselves incompatible with the people they supposedly serve.
Whatever chance that reasonable healthcare reform had has been permanently destroyed by the maniacal obsession of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barrack Hussein Obama to force their will down the throats of the American people.
Voters are going to crush the Democrats out of existence beginning with the 2010 elections and continuing until not one Democrat is left in office.
On the radio last week I heard audio of Hillary, Barack, Joe Biden, Pelosi, Reid, and I think it was Kerry all lambasting a group of republicans in congress who were trying to use the Reconciliation process in a similar fashion. They ALL excoriated the idea a egregious and said it would subvert the constitution. The reconciliation at that time was put down and did not happen. Those audio clips should be played constantly now on the air. Transcripts should be distributed. They should be played in front of those individuals who said them and then they should be asked to respond on why their positions have reversed.
Too funny.
Yeah, this violates every insticnt of democracy EXCEPT for majority rule. Majority rule is actually the law, so I guess one could argue that it is not an “instinct”. It’s more like a constitutional thingy than a gut thingy.
Guess what happens when people vote (like in a democracy) ? Yes, the winner of the vote is the side with the majority, or the most votes.
How is counting the votes against democracy?
Why should the minority be allowed to dictate terms to the majority? They are the losers, the ones who do not represent the will of the majority. Got it, republicans ? You . Are. Losers. If you want to change the world, you gotta win some elections first. Crying about everything ain’t gonna cut it.
Cong. Garrett – spot-on. Of course, as you know, should the House pass the Senate bill that is then followed by a reconciliation bill, the Senate is under no obligation to do anything with the reconciliation bill. It could just let it sit there. To make matters worse, Jennifer Rubin reports, in Commentary Contention, that the Senate parliamentarian has said that the President must sign the bill before there can be a reconciliation bill. All the more reason for the Senate to do nothing.
Finally, there is the matter of the House Rules Committee and its attempt to eviscerate the Constitution. The chairperson wants to pass a rule deeming the Senate bill as passed without there actually being a vote on the bill. You must not let that happen. If they do that, it smells of dictatorship.
9. Tom:
It’s more like a constitutional thingy than a gut thingy.
I love it when liberals cite the constitution. Yea, Too funny.
Now site the article or ammendment that authorizes this unconstitutional garbage.
Stay tuned, Tom!
If this stands the senate will lose the filibuster. If one-sixth of the US economy can be forced under reconciliation then the balance between the senate and house will be fundamentally changed. We will have two bodies of majority rule…the senate will no longer be a brake.
This changes everything in the legislature. Majorities will rule…is this a bad thing? Wonder if those pushing for this change remember a few years back when the Dems used the filibuster to block GOP judges.
The New York Times and the MSM thought THAT was just fine. Then, the filibuster was a “bulwark” against majority totalitarianism.
Whose ox???
Kill the bill, Quickly!
tom @9 You and your ilk constantly dislay your ignorance. We don’t live in a Democracy.
We live in a Republic.
The founders knew that libiots like you would attempt mob-rule. Indeed, that is precisely why the Senate was instituted.
Why do you think a super-majority is needed on most items?
How long did the Dems have a filibuster-proof majority, and still fail to get this mostrosity passed? How many despicable deals had to be made?
You are snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and aren’t smart enough to see it!
I do hope it passes.
They know We unwashed masses are naive, stupid and confused by this Obama-grab, Universal Insurance Reform, Health Care Overhaul,
Pelosi Pee Party.
We don’t care who votes for it we will change our minds and love them come November.
So you congressmen/women,
go ahead and take a bullet for Obama his ship will never sink.
Damn the torpedoes!
Full speed ahead!
Rahm it through!
The Senate parlimentarian said today that the bill has to be signed into law by the President before any reconciliation process can be undertaken.
House members would have to take it on faith that, once the House had passed the Senate version of the bill (to which many House members object) then amendments through reconcilation could strike out the offensive parts, such as federally funded abortion.
(the abortion language in the bill reportedly doesn’t even apply under rules of reconciliation)
Health-Care Bill Path Complicated by Parliamentarian
That would be taking a lot on faith by the members of the House of Representatives. Currently, some 300 House passed bills are currently languishing inside the morass of the Senate.
So what might happen to the reconciliation process once the President had signed the thing into law ?
The whole thing smells like a crock of you know what.
A few years ago, when Republicans were talking about ‘reconciliation’ that was a good thing, but when Democrats do it, that’s evil???
How’s about considering the idea that both parties are completely out of control?
Hint: The thought that you are currently living in a constitutional democracy, let alone a constitutional republic…is absurd.
(“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”)
The Democrat majority in the House and Senate deserves to be defeated in the next election, no matter what the outcome of the “Health Care” bill. The term “Health Care” itself is a euphenism. It should more properly be titled “Government Takeover of Health Care”. The President is not fulfilling his constitutional duties as President under the Constitution. He is on and has been on the campaign trail continuously for more than four years. He is a disservice to himself and a betrayal of the citizens of the United States of America, not just on “Health Care” but to just about everything he touches.
Expect the Democrats to follow the lead of Pelosi and Obama, and the House will pass the Senate Bill and they will declare victory and move to their next program. Immigration or Cap and Trade or Bank Regulation, or Jobs.
There is no Democrat Congressman or Woman that will vote against the party and Obama. None. Pelosi will get the majority number , think it is 216 now, and then let those Representatives that need political cover to vote NO or Present or miss the vote.
And, maybe the American Voter will never give one political party control over the Senate, House and President of the United States at the same time. Republican or Democrat. They cannot be trusted. Politicians are by nature liars and cheaters and thieves. They cannot help themselves when they get a chance to grow government and spend money.
We all need to vote against the incumbent, every election. Could discourage the Professional Politican, maybe.
Warren Bonesteel @ #18: Most of the reconciliation bills brought up by Republicans were about budgetary matters and were passed with bipartisan majorities, and in some cases, large ones. This reconciliation bill is an entirely different animal. It is a way of getting the Senate bill passed in the House and by-passing the typical Conference Committee set up to straighten out the different versions. Moreover, we are not talking about a small matter here. We are talking about the ultimate nationalization of one-sixth of the economy. In the end, you can put a handle on a Volkswagen and call it a portable car, but it’s still a Volkswagen.
The Democratic Party really ought to change their name to the Socialist Party. There is no way in hell these Democrats represent the ideals of their founder Thomas Jefferson.
As Nancy Pelosi said recently, we won’t know what is in the bill until the bill is passed. That’s what passes for government in Washington these days.
Freedom is for losers, imposed healthcare makes left/liberal Democrats feel good about themselves! (It worked for Lenin!)
All hail Healthcare, oh Healthcare, oh Healthcare, the path to the new Socialist motherland! (That’s “social justice” for you… don’t mind the gulags, secret police and the lack of actual quality in the healthcare you might end up getting.)
9. Who is the loser, when you can’t even govern with one-party rule. It wasn’t the Republicans who blocked anything last year. The Republicans could slow bills and nominations down, but they lacked the votes to stop them. That the Democrats didn’t get everything they wanted was purely a function of Democrats refusing to go along with what the party leadership demanded.
I don’t see the clause in the United States’ Constitution where it says that the Speaker of the House will be a marginally sane dominatrix whose job it is to crack the whip over the heads of members of the legislature, threaten them with losing plum committee assignments & losing re-election support, threaten them with shame, ignominy etc., unless they toe the line and vote “yea” for a 2700 page convoluted mess of a bill that no one really understands. (But whose true intent is to to insert government into your life for the duration, the duration of the Republic or of the planet, whichever comes first)
It feels like something out of the Marquis de Sade rather than democracy in action.
Legislators, reportedly, already spend something like 6 hours/day of the peoples’ time sitting at telephone banks, raising cash.
Raising cash for re-election to the circus & getting a “win” for your President seem to be higher priorities than formulating anything resembling good policy.
You do not meet them half way. The republicans does not have to engage in talks about reaching a compromise about healthcare.
Stop the bill.As soon as
Scott Garrett very correctly states that the idea of pushing through the currently proposed health care bill goes against every instinct of American democracy. On second thought, maybe it’s not 100% correct.
The idea of {pushing through} the currently proposed health care bill does not go against the BASEST INSTINCTS of American Democracy.
And where there’s base instincts, ones with a lot of money and power riding on them, there’s always a plan to shove them through.
Here’s why I’m 90% sure Obama’s StealthCare will be passed. I know. Just the thought makes me sick, too.
Regardless of the machinations used to rube goldberg the process, I truly think this American Tragedy is going to pass. Of course, I lay fault for this upcoming devastating defeat. I think that it lies, to a big extent, with the Republicans, the same ones that attended the big healthcare meeting with Obama a few weeks ago. Republicans game planning ability kind of reminds me of the Chicago Bears game plans, being unable year in and year out to figure out what’s going to be run against them.
Here’s the way I see it.
The Republicans, because they’re not the smartest, neglected to advise Obama during the big HealthCare meeting that, if he plans to hammer out a revised bill with their ideas added, the Republicans would want to be present to help with the changes. However, the meeting ended. Obama and his staff worked on the the changes, and the Republicans and the American people were left high and dry.
What’s more, this slow witted Republican team is missing a key Democratic Obama battle tactic that has every chance of sinking us. People like Hannity say they can’t understand why Democrats would walk the plank for Obama and vote for ObamaCare in direct opposition to the wishes of the American people. There’s an answer. Just follow the money.
Here’s the deal.
Any vote that Obama really wants he’ll probably get simply by using unused Stimulus money as a kind of “campaign gift” for some future run, should the “yes” vote on ObamaCare cause some Democrat to lose their job. Last night, I ran this tactic by a political think tank guy who said doing that would probably be illegal. Hello, why does this guy think Eric Holder was made Attorney general? Holder is probably the thickest thief in this den of them. I believe that Holder will be getting his share, too. I estimate the payoff to be ten million for each badly needed vote.
Does anybody, by the way, know how much of the Stimulus money has been spent so far? Have any of the mainstream media so much as asked why such a small percentage has been spent? It’s really a political slush fund. That’s the sound of the Constitution being flushed down the toilet
It would be a good idea for anybody with Hannity’s ear to suggest he expose this nefarious plan to the American people?
One more thing, the Republicans can offer stuff to get Democratic votes, too. But will they do it is another question.
How’s about considering the idea that both parties are completely out of control?