The Legislative Tricks to Pass Health Care Legislation

If you agree with the tactics being used by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama to pass health care legislation then stop reading and go hang yourself.  What we are seeing right now in Washington, D.C. is the tyranny of the majority tearing up the clear language of the Constitution.  The Democrats have used every unconstitutional trick in the book to pass this bill that the majority of American citizens do not want.  Let me outline the tactics used by the left in the passage of this bill.

First, three different health care reform bill were written by three different committees in the House of Representatives.  While there were republicans on every committee, from what I understand, they were given no chance to have input on the crafting of these bills.  Many video can be found of Republican law makers, some of the former doctors, berating the bills being written and how it will not do what it is intended to do.

Next, after the bills have been written, Speaker Pelosi, takes these three bills and splices them together in a 1,900 page monstrosity of legislation.  She only allows the passage of one amendment, from a Democrat, to be voted upon before the house.  She keeps the Representatives in session all day on Saturday to have the vote and she still barely gets it passed.  I believe the final vote was 220-215.  She needed 218.  And this is with a overwhelming majority of seats in the House belonging to Democrat party members.

Harry Reid though will not be outdone by his House counterpart.  There are two bills that come out of the Senate and are stitched together to form the final bill to come out of the Senate.  The Republicans do a good job of holding the line on filibustering the final vote.  A filibuster is a legislative tactic to delay the final vote on any piece of legislation.  It is a within the rules of the Senate for the senators to do such a tactic.  While the filibuster is going on, Reid entices Sen. Landrieu of Louisiana to vote for the bill with a $300 million bribe of money for her state, written in the bill.  Also he give Sen. Nelson of Nebraska a bribe of money in the bill so his state does not need to pay for Medicare for the next ten years.  Both of these are clear violations of the U.S. Constitution.  They violate the following clause:

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. (Art.I, Sec. 9)

Also Reid and his cronies threaten not only Sen. Lieberman but his wife.  They try to get her kicked off as chairman of a charitable board she serves on.  Shame on you Reid!  Shame!

Finally, the filibuster is broken, but Reid still holds the U.S. Senate in continuous session until Christmas Eve day in order to vote.  The House has already adjourned for the Christmas holiday, which also seems to be a clear violation of the Constitution as well under this clause:

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

I'd be interested to see the record of the vote that the House allowed the Senate to stay in session long after they had been adjourned.  I doubt it exist or if a that vote even happened

We come back from Christmas and find out that the typical path of a bill will now be different.  Typically when a bill is passed by both houses they must meet together to finalize the language of the bill since both houses have to pass the exact same legislation.  This process would have had to include Republicans and Democrats from both houses.  After the conference meeting both houses would have vote on the bill again.  Also it would probably be covered on CSPAN..  We learn though that this will not be the process.  So now they are ignoring the rules that they made for the legislative process.  Reid, Pelosi and Obama sit down and hash out the final details.

Next comes the twist in the story, Scott Brown is elected senator to the state of Massachusetts, taking the place of the former senator, Ted Kennedy.  The Democrats in the Senate no longer have a filibuster proof majority.  Its time to scramble for any way to avoid voting on the bill again in the Senate.  Enter reconciliation.

Reconciliation is a legislative process in the Senate to change an already existing law to bring it in line with revenue, spending, or debt-limit on a budget resolution.  The key to the plan is that the law already needs to be passed for this option work.  This is where it gets interesting and more and more corrupt.  It has been used on many pieces of legislation in the past by both parties, but never on something this big or game changing in the U.S. government.

Here is where the entire process is starting to get tricky, corrupts and downright unconstitutional.  The House has yet to pass the Senate version of the bill.  The Senate has not even attempted to pass the House version of the bill.  We have two bills on the same topic that have only passed in one house.  The Constitution clearly states:

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States (Art. I, Sec. 7)

That has not happened yet.  The meetings between the White House and Congressional Leadership (Pelosi and Reid) decided their best bet is the try and pass the Senate bill in the House, even though it is hugely unpopular in the House and the Senate, because of the bribes found in its language.  Then use Reconciliation to get rid of all the unpopular things in the bill (i.e. the Corn Husker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase of 2009).  The Reconciliation bill in the House has already been written and the chair has said this is not the final version.  The problem is that we have not even had a vote on the Senate bill in the House.  Enter the Slaughter Solution.


The Slaughter Solution or Rule is a legislative process could be part of the rules for debate and voting on the Senate Health Care Reform Bill.  It will work something like this.  The Rule committee in the House would create a rule that states, if the House approves of the changes to the Senate bill by the Reconciliation bill then the Senate bill will be deemed passed.  The House only need to pass the rule to pass the legislation.  Make sense?  I know I am confused too.  To simplify, the House would only vote to approve the rule, and then they would not need to vote on the Senate bill.  This is where they violate the Constitution the most.  Again from Article I, Section 7:

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States...

The slaughter rule is a clear violation of this part of the Constitution.  It allows a bill to pass to the President for final approval without a vote to pass the bill in the House.

The hypocrisy of both sides disgust me right now.  Republicans have used this rule before to pass legislation, which is why they are not speaking up.  The Democrats criticized this use of power by the Republicans just a few years ago.  Everyone is guilty, no one is innocent.

I encourage everyone to stop the tyranny of Congress and the President to pass a this legislation that the process alone has clearly violated the Constitution.  Now is the time to stop and go back to square one to start over.  Take some time and look at the rules you created and reform them to be more open like you promised us 12+ months ago.  Get rid of the backroom deals and the legislative tricks used to pass laws.  Write the rules encourage dialogue and debate on every piece of legislation.  Its time for change, but all I see is more of the same:  corruption.

Men and women, please call your representatives in congress.  Let them know you stand behind them to stop this corruption.  Tell them that you will not stand for these legislative tricks.  Call them now!

News of the Day - 3/15/2010

A number of news articles from the last few days that deserve comment.  So here we go.

FCC TO EXPAND BROADBAND ACCESS
The FCC (Federal Communication Commission) is planning on expanding using its power as a federal regulatory agency to spread broadband access across the United States, primarily into rural area.  I again must age old question.  Under what authority of the U.S. Constitution can the FCC force the spread of broadband access?  They can't.  The FCC is a borderline unconstitutional body that regulates what people can and cannot say on television and radio broadcasts, in direct violation of the 1st Amendment.  It is not the job of the federal government to provide this service to the citizens.  You might be able to make the argument that state and local governments could force companies to provide access, as long as their state constitutions allow for the regulation of utilities.  I know this may leave some people out in the cold for not getting faster internet in their homes, but if they decided to put it in, what is to stop them from regulating the information going through those lines.  The whole concept of, I paid for it so I get to choose what you use it for.


NEW YORK CITY TO BAN SALT IN RESTAURANTS
So the Nanny State itself, New York City, is planning on banning the use of salt in restaurants.  Really?  Really?  Does anyone know that we do need salt to live?  Ever heard the phrase, "the man is worth his salt?"  It was used because that is how Roman Soldiers were often paid, in salt.  It is a useful mineral that preserves food and makes it taste better too.  This is just another example of the nanny state run amok.  I am sick and tired of the government telling me what things I can and can't do or have because it might be dangerous for myself.  Or telling me I have to do this "for the children."  First they tax the crap out of cigarette smokers.  Then they go after trans fats and soda.  Now its salt.  What's next?  Limiting my TV time?  Forcing me to exercise? We are doing all these things for the children, but its making us all children to increasingly oppressive governments (State and local are involved in this too).


MONEY WASTED IN THE STIMULUS
This is not so much of a news story but a blog posting of Sean Hannity.  It lists the 102 most wasteful uses of ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009), otherwise know as the stimulus package.  I wish I could say I am surprised by the amount of money our government wastes, but I am not.  These wasteful uses are just the tip of the iceberg.  Every congressman and woman each year submits pet projects like these to the government as earmarked appropriations.  They typically show up on appropriations bills.  Every year we waste close to $18 billion on this type of spending.  Its time for the current President, and all of them in future, to grow some balls and flex that veto power for this wasteful spending.


MORE REASONS FOR THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS
There is also a second story I might comment on during this analysis.  So ABC news has found out that some restraining orders are not very effective at stopping harassment.  In fact, sometimes they non enforcement of them sometimes results in the death of the people who went to the courts for help.  This is just another reason why the right of the people to bear arms should not be infringed.  The police are the to protect and serve, but even they cannot get to a house in time, all the time.  When the only thing that stands between you and your assailant is the police, you are placing way to much trust for your safety in another government organization.  This is one reason why the second amendment exists, so that law abiding citizens can protect themselves from those who would want to harm our life, liberty and property.  Also, in Vegas, a man has been arrested for shooting at two men who were trying to jack his truck.  I pray the district attorney drops the charges against the man.  Or if he is put on the jury nullifies law and declares him not guilty.


As always I welcome your comments and/or questions.