At the Weekly Standard, John McCormack write that Robert Gibbs claims, as McCormack puts it, “The Cornhusker Kickback Bill Will be ‘Law of the Land’ in 7 Days:”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the healthcare bill will pass by next weekend.
“We’ll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week,” Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Gibbs added that those on next week’s Sunday talk shows “will be talking about healthcare not as a presidential proposal but I think as the law of the land.”
Gibbs is making clear that the vote House Democrats face next weekend is whether or not to make the Senate bill–with its tax on union health care plans and special deals for Nebraska, Florida, and Louisiana–“law of the land.” And then why would the Senate need to pass reconciliation fixes when its own national health care bill is already “law of the land”? Is this the message the White House wants to be sending to wavering House Democrats–that the Senate’s monstrosity will become law of the land and additional changes through reconciliation will just be icing on the cake?
Meanwhile, it looks like Gibbs’s prediction may be some high-level bluster. Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says that as of today they don’t have the votes.
More long-term, strategic bluster spotted from David Axelrod, along with a response from Moe Lane.
Update: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on his Facebook page: “Did you know: No official estimate of costs yet for beefed up role for IRS or HHS under HC bill?”
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