Senate Democrats Vote Down Amendments

In a marathon session in the Senate last night, the Democrats defeated the GOP's amendments to the fixer-upper bill for Health Care Reform. The only surviving amendment dealt with student loans. All that is left of the amendments is the Democrats' voting record to be used as cannon fodder for the mid term elections.

Left in the Health Care Bill are all the sweetheart deals for Louisiana, Tennessee, Hawaii, Montana, Connecticut and others. Even today Senator McCain warned that there are probably more problems with the bill that have yet to be uncovered.

You could probably hide an elephant in a 2,700 page bill. Sounds a little like cold war intelligence battles with the USSR. The strategy was to put out so much garbage information along with the correct info that the Russians would not be able to make sense of any of it. Sound familiar?

The solution? Repeal and rewrite.

Repeal the Health Care Bill. Call and write your reps in Congress.

GOP Amendments to the Health Care Bill

So Obama signed the Health Care Spending Bill this week and, if you listen to MSNBC, the new age of heaven has begun. The Republican Senators are presenting amendments to the bill to correct some of the glaring problems with the bill.

For example, Senator McCain is addressing the pork and back room deal making by presenting an amendment to cut out the special deals for Louisiana, the Cornhusker deal, and others. Senator Coburn is presenting an amendment to prohibit sex offenders from getting prescription Viagra on the taxpayers dime. He's also filed 8 other amendments that address concerns about growing bureaucracy, overreaching new powers in the Department of HHS, Waste Fraud and Abuse, Class 1 Medical Device taxes, and more.

It would be hard for any Democrat to defend striking down any of these amendments but I'm sure some will try.

If this bill makes it through to reconciliation, the true REPEAL process will begin.

I truly hoped that this bill would never make it this far, but it has.

Pass the word, get involved, leave your comments here even if you disagree.

Repeal this bill. Save our country's future.

Can This Health Care Bill Be Repealed?

Well, it has not passed yet. That's a good thing.  The question has come up about a spot in the monster bill that says the bill cannot be repealed in the future. That is partly correct. There is a mention of it "it shall not be in order in the senate or the house of representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection".

The section is found in the description of the Independent Medicare Advisory Board on page 1,020. In order to insert this, this legislation would be changing the Senate rules - (that this bill cannot be repealed) and that requires a two thirds majority vote in the Senate. So, if they insert this "non repealable" clause, they will need a two thirds vote. Not gonna get it.

There is even a question about whether this non repeal notion is even constitutional. The purpose of Senate rules like this is to prevent a tyrannical majority from stamping out the rights of future Congresses or minorities. That question should not even be coming up. But it is. Isn't our president an expert on constitutional law? Then Sen. Obama, who taught courses in constitutional law at the University of Chicago, has regularly referred to himself as "a constitutional law professor," most famously at a March 30, 2007 fundraiser when he said, "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution." Maybe that gives him the insight on how to progressively destroy, dilute, or undermine it.

So much for Democrats looking out for the rights of the minority. Oops. In this case the minority is the Republican Party and no matter what the numbers say, they cannot be a minority because they are Republican.

I hate the double standards in politics. Get ready to repeal the bill. It must be repealed if it passes. It will be repealed if it passes.

Great video of Senator DeMint on that issue:

So Much For Transparency

The final details about the health care reform bill are now being worked out - in private. No cameras. No reporters. No Republicans. No Transparency.

Somewhere in the back of my mind this morning came the old quote "Men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil".

Why, I wonder, are the final negotiations going on in private? Because Obama and the Dems do not want the country to see who is getting the deals for their votes. They are not hammering out the details. They are bribing fence riding Senators and Congressmen for their vote on the bill. Obama's Chicago mob is more interested is passing something than doing what is right for the country.

That's why CSpan's letter went unanswered. That's why Pelosi is quibbling with the truth about being/not being transparent. Sure, the cameras were rolling when they were discussing the nuts and bolts of how the bill will work. She and her gang from the Patch, Terror Town, Boys Town, or Lakeview just don't want the public to know just how corrupt the process is.

Votes for Dollars. That's what it is all about.

Votes for Dollars.

Get ready to push for the repeal the bill movement.

What Would It Take To Repeal The Health Care Bill

Here's what Stephanie Condon at CBS new blogs said today, "Repealing the health care bill, however, would take more than winning back a few congressional seats. Just as the Republican minority in the Senate has stalled the current health care debate, a Democratic minority could do the same to any repeal measure unless Republicans were able to pull together at least a 60-vote majority. The GOP would also have to overcome the strong majority Democrats now have in the House. Even if they were to win both chambers back, President Obama could veto any repeal measure at least through 2012."

So it is essential that we defeat the health care bill before it can pass. The Republicans would have to win enough seats in the House and Senate to OVERRIDE a presidential veto. Or, persuade enough Democrats to help repeal a bill that is a disaster to the US economy, health care, and more. Or, hoping against hope, maybe enough Democrats will have a blinding flash of the obvious - this health care reform bill is a total disaster and vote it down.

That's the bottom line.

Repeal The Health Care Bill - What Will The Final Bill Look Like?

Most agree the final version of the bill will look more like the Senate Bill than the House version. But what main elements will be there? Public Option? 55 to 64 Medicare? Fed funding for abortion? Who knows.

But what we do know is that it will cost way more then anyone will ever predict. Congress has never come "under budget" on anything. Ever. Have they?

And what about Medicare cuts to balance the bottom line? How deep will those cuts go? Medicare Advantage? Will it be totally cut out?

Then there's the aspect of the spiraling national debt, congress raising the debt ceiling, questions of health care rationing, health care access, diminishing payments to doctors and the list goes on.

Now, what is hidden in the bill that no one is talking about?

Pork time for Congress. Not to mention what may be going on behind the closed doors, secret meetings with Obama, Dems, dollars for a vote, corruption, greed, and basic stupidity.

That's not change we can believe in.

Wake up America!

Who Voted Yay and Nay on the Senate Bill Ending Debate

Here's a link to the official Senate record of how they voted.

Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---60


Akaka (D-HI)  Baucus (D-MT)  Bayh (D-IN)  Begich (D-AK)  Bennet (D-CO)  Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)  Brown (D-OH)  Burris (D-IL)  Byrd (D-WV)  Cantwell (D-WA)  Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)  Casey (D-PA)  Conrad (D-ND)  Dodd (D-CT)  Dorgan (D-ND)  Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)  Feinstein (D-CA)  Franken (D-MN)  Gillibrand (D-NY)  Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)  Inouye (D-HI)  Johnson (D-SD)  Kaufman (D-DE)  Kerry (D-MA)  Kirk (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)  Kohl (D-WI)  Landrieu (D-LA)  Lautenberg (D-NJ)  Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)  Lieberman (ID-CT)  Lincoln (D-AR)  McCaskill (D-MO)  Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)  Mikulski (D-MD)  Murray (D-WA)  Nelson (D-FL)  Nelson (D-NE)  Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)  Reid (D-NV)  Rockefeller (D-WV)  Sanders (I-VT)  Schumer (D-NY)  Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)  Stabenow (D-MI)  Tester (D-MT)  Udall (D-CO)  Udall (D-NM)  Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)  Whitehouse (D-RI)  Wyden (D-OR)

Following a strict party line vote, the Senate voted to end debate on the Health Care Reform Bill. Once they vote to approve it, they will send it to be combined with the House version. Nobody really knows what will be in the final bill and whether or not the final version will ever make it to the President to sign.

Some on the fence were paid off to get their votes. Most of the negotiation never involved any Republican Senators. Neither was it transparent like Obama promised.

This bill does not accomplish what the President said it should. It will cost way too much, drive doctors and hospitals out of business, increase wait time to see a doctor, diminish the quality of care, delay care, and increase premiums for everyone.  I know that is contrary to what the President promises, but based on what we have all seen so far, his promises cannot be believed.