Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts

Saturday, March 20, 2010

RED ALERT: Obama Will Sign Senate Bill First; House Democrats Be Warned - Your 'Fixes' Will Likely Never See the Light of Day

11:46am ET: A stark admission was just made in the Rules Committee. President Obama will sign a Senate Bill that was "deemed passed" in the House, but has never been voted on. The House fixes will likely be picked apart and destroyed, one by one, in the Senate during this outrageous abuse of the reconciliation process.

As an aside, the idiotic Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) just said that using the Slaughter Rule Is "like buying a house on contingency and you find it has a leaky roof".

Update: Mark Levin on Cavuto -- this has never been done before.

Update II: Michelle Malkin: Reports: Deem and Pass is dead; keep the no-mentum going.


Friday, March 19, 2010

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on the Most Irresponsible, Dishonest and Malevolent Congress in U.S. History

Interviewed on The Mark Levin Show, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) described the Democrats' cynical attempts to game the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate for their brand new entitlement program. As a reminder, our existing entitlement programs -- Social Security and Medicare -- are only $100 trillion in the hole right now.

Ryan: I've got CBO working on a letter for me to hopefully get tonight or tomorrow to just re-verify the facts.

Number one: they're taking $522 billion out of Medicare -- but not to get to Medicare solvency -- but to pay for this new government takeover of healthcare. This new entitlement. You can't count those dollars twice, yet they're claiming it twice. So we call that 'double-counting': either the $522 billion goes into the Medicare trust fund to make it more solvent or to this new program; not both. And they're claiming both...

They are taking ten years of tax increases and Medicare cuts to pay for six years of spending.

They're taking the 'Cadillac Tax' and shoving it outside the [ten-year, CBO] window.

They added a brand new tax on investment income [Ed: well, that should help the economy!] that's must higher... that's $210 billion of new taxes that we just got an hour or two ago.

And they're moving money out of this ten-year [CBO] window so much to manipulate this score to try and make it look like this thing comes in under a trillion dollars and actually reduces the deficit.

They don't count the 'Doc Fix', that's $371 billion right there... Medicare physicians are slated to get a 21% cut in their payments next month and everyone is proposing to prevent that from happening. Congress, for the last seven years, has prevented these Medicare cuts from occurring... and all of these bills said, "We're going to prevent these Medicare cuts from hitting the doctors" because we know about 25% of doctors will just drop taking Medicare patients if this cut occurs. And so... they took this spending provision out of the bill and left it as a separate piece of legislation. So they took $371 billion of spending and took it out of this legislation!

[There's] $72 billion in Social Security taxes that they're counting twice; that's supposed to go to Social Security, but is a raid on the Social Security trust fund.

There's $50 billion in premium for a new entitlement for long-term care insurance; these premiums, like any insurance, should go to insurance, but they're taking them to go to this new entitlement!

Levin: So they're taking money out of Social Security; they're taking money out of Medicare; new [LTC] premiums, they're taking that money; ...so we're at a trillion dollars of Madoff-style fiscal fraud!

Ryan: That's right. And the Congressional Budget Office can't tell you this. Because their statute is that they estimate whatever you put in front of them. And if you put in front of them garbage in, you'll get garbage out.

If you put in front of them a manipulated bill and all of the smoke and mirrors, they have no choice but to score the bill as you wrote it. And if you write it intentionally to disguise all of this, then you'll get a disguised estimate, and that's what we have here.

Precisely the reason I'm organizing the Impeach & Convict Tour 2011. Because you can't be too careful with Democrats: they're like cockroaches.


Update: Reps. Stupak and Cantor: Democrats Still Don’t Have the Votes.

Keep calling!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Obamacare Protest Sign o' the Day


Hat tip: Soylent Green.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Schoolhouse Rock Slaughter Edition: How a Bill Becomes a Law

Boy: Whoa! You sure gotta climb a lot of steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington...

But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?

I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.

Well, it's a long twisted story
with lots of crime and not much glory.
Secret deals and billions in pork
Hey, there's Ben Nelson, in whom you can stick a fork!

But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will,
But today I am still just a bill.

Boy: Gee, Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage.

Bill: You ain't kidding, Einstein. The idea for me got started about 80 years ago when FDR had the crackpot idea that you could grant "rights" by stealing people's labor. Never mind the idea ain't even constitutional. That didn't stop the Democrats...

Constituents h'been flyin', bussin', railroadin', callin', emailin', telling their damn Congress-critters to stop with the crazy Socialist crap.

So what's their Congressman do? Lock their doors and shut off their phone systems, that's what!

But lately, I been gettin' closer than ever. Y'see, the Senate passed me by a single vote, which got Scott Brown elected Senator from Massachusetts!

Well, that freaked out the Marxists in the House that realized they'd never get another health care takeover through the Senate.

And because I'm so dang unpopular, Democrats have to figure out how to pass me without actually voting! Pretty cool, huh?

I'm just a bill
Yes I'm only a bill,
And I got as far as Capitol Hill.
Now I'm in the Rules committee
Where the head-mistress is pretty sh***y

And they're threatening and bribing
Thieving and conniving,
Just trying to get me to float
Without even havin' a vote!

Boy: Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Bill: Sort of. They're trying to pay off as many people as they can with special deals, kickbacks, earmarks, guaranteed jobs if they get kicked out of Congress in November, you name it! And all so they don't have to vote on the real bill!

Boy: But that's not what we studied in Civics class! A bill's supposed to be passed, identically, through both chambers of Congress! That's in the Constitution!

Bill: Don't be a chucklehead. The Democrats destroyed the Constitution decades ago.

Now get lost. You bother me. And don't come back until you've got some money to grease the wheels of the legislature. Dummy.


ObamaCanard #93: Uninsured Folks Who Use Emergency Rooms for Primary Care Drive Up Costs for Everyone

How often have you read news reports like this one in the San Francisco Chronicle?

Hospital emergency departments, typically the medical providers of last resort, are becoming the only option for insured as well as uninsured people who are unable to get care elsewhere, leading to a record rise in emergency room visits over the past decade, a federal government report found...

"The uninsured have long been more frequent users of (emergency rooms). That's not new. What's new is the rise ... in frequency in visits, and that's occurring in the insured," said Dr. Stephen Pitts, author of the report and a CDC fellow who teaches emergency medicine at Emory University's School of Medicine.

Problem is, the meme is complete bunk.

As Robert J. Samuelson, writing in The Washington Post, and The New York Times' Freakonomics Blog report:

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population. After Massachusetts adopted universal insurance, emergency-room use remained higher than the national average, an Urban Institute study found. More than two-fifths of visits represented non-emergencies. Of those, a majority of adult respondents to a survey said it was "more convenient" to go to the emergency room or they couldn't "get [a doctor's] appointment as soon as needed." If universal coverage makes appointments harder to get, emergency-room use may increase.

And:

...a new Slate article from Zachary Meisel and Jesse Pines offers a rosier picture of emergency room usage, and dispels several pervasive myths. They write that E.R. care represents less than 3 percent of healthcare spending, only 12 percent of E.R. visits are non-urgent, and the majority of E.R. patients are insured U.S. citizens, not uninsured, illegal immigrants. Meisel and Pines also point out that E.R. visits don’t necessarily cost more than primary care visits: “In fact, the marginal cost of treating less acute patients in the ER is lower than paying off-hours primary care doctors, as ERs are already open 24/7 to handle life-threatening emergencies.” Ultimately, Meisel and Pines believe that emergency rooms are functioning as they’re supposed to, as “an always-available resource to alleviate pain, make sure your baby is not truly ill, and patch you up after a nasty fall is vital, even if it turns out that your condition wasn’t as serious as you feared.”

Put simply, E.R.'s are functioning far better in the U.S. than in any other country.

Which is why Alan Grayson wants to destroy them. And, it would seem, kill you in the process.

In fact, the reason E.R. usage has grown is because of government-run health care. Most studies indicate that the difficulty in getting primary care appointments (especially for Medicare and Medicaid patients) has contributed to the rise in E.R. use.

So, if Democrats get their way with state-run health care for everyone, look for Emergency Rooms to resemble a DMV chock full of sick people.


Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Get Yer 'Call Congress Now' Blog Widget

Don't bother calling the power-mad oligarchs like Hoyer and Pelosi. Instead, call the NRCC's Code Red Targets. Now.

And, if you have a blog, add the widget.

200 pels wide by 138 pels high

Dial:  877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121 ... Code Red - click for the NRCC List of Targeted Congressmen


Update - Join me on the Impeach & Convict Tour of 2011:

Dear Democrats,

I don't think you have any idea how angry we are.

So you would institute an authoritarian bureaucracy like the one our founders despised and revolted against? You would completely disregard public opinion? You would saddle generations yet unborn with trillions in debt? And redistribute trillions of American wealth in futile central planning schemes? So you would destroy the greatest health care system in the world?

And, to top it all off, you would blatantly violate your oath to uphold the Constitution?

November will come. And paybacks are hell.

And we promise to pursue you and your ilk to the ends of the Earth. To unearth your crimes. To impeach those in power and to prosecute the rest. To unwind your Marxist schemes. To politically crush the Democrat Party and leave it as much of a force as the Whigs.

What you are doing is nothing less than child abuse. Punishing the next generation and generations yet unborn. Which seems to be the only skill the Democrat Party possesses.

Be warned. We will pursue you. And you will be punished.




Image credit: Excellence in Broadcasting.

InTrade on Obamacare

InTrade's been wrong on occasion, but this chart isn't encouraging.

Call now -- make your voice heard.

Top 10 Reasons We Can Trust Democrats to Run Health Care as Well as They Run the Economy

10 New home sales hit the lowest level on record in January.

9The percentage of delinquent mortgages hit 5.1%, another high.

8Nearly one out of four mortages are underwater. It's another Obama miracle!

7A huge wave of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are about to reset, many from ultra-low "teaser" rates. I think you can guess where the housing market is headed.

6And, thanks to Democrats' laser-like focus on the economy, consumer confidence hit another ten-month low.

5The picture for commercial real estate (CRE) is just as dire as residential; CRE values are down 40% from the high and nearly one-fifth of all commercial property stands vacant today.

4Experts report that CRE is only now hitting the "danger zone" -- losses could total more than a quarter of a trillion dollars.

3For these reasons, CRE lending is almost non-existent today.

2Small- and mid-size banks are in deep trouble; the FDIC's problem list of banks was at 702 at the beginning of the year. In September of 2009, the figure was 552. And the year before, the number was only 252. Banks aren't out of the woods... not by a long shot.

1The "on-the-books" U.S. national debt is now over 12 trillion dollars and is rising at about $3.8 billion a day. Who will buy all the new debt that needs to be rolled over? And what about Social Security, Medicare and other "off-the-books" entitlement programs that are underfunded by $100 trillion?

Yes, it's Democrat Obamanomics in action! With a track record like this, I suggest we let these n00bz run one-sixth of the private sector: the entire health care system. I really don't see how their plans could fail.


Adapted from: 15 Reasons Why Obama’s Claim That “A Second Depression Is No Longer A Possibility” Is Dead Wrong.

Democrats: We're so proud of our awesome takeover of health care that we won't go on record as actually having voted for it

House Majority Leader Stenky Hoyer and Speaker Nancy "Stretch" Pelosi hit the press circuit earlier today to defend the so-called Slaughter Solution, an unprecedented method for enacting government-run health care. This last-gasp Democrat attempt to squeeze out a health care bill would "deem" the Senate health care bill as passed without a direct vote.

Legal experts believe such a maneuver contravenes Article I, Section 7 of the U.S Constitution.

It also compounds a callous disregard for the truth and American traditions:

Democrats have already hidden 60 percent of the cost of the Senate bill, effected an obscenely partisan change in Massachusetts law to keep the bill moving, pledged more than a billion taxpayer dollars to buy votes for the bill, and packed the bill with an unconstitutional individual mandate and provisions that violate the First Amendment. It’s almost as if, to paraphrase comedian Lewis Black, Democrats spent a whole year, umm, desecrating the Constitution and at the last minute went, “Oh! Missed a spot!”

In other words, this health care overhaul is so crazy good the leadership can't even convince Democrats to openly vote on it.

Hoyer attempted to deflect criticism by citing cases where Republicans used a "self-executing" rule.

Oh, the Republicans used it, right? Well, Stenky, could we please have the list of bills and laws passed using this method? There aren't any. It's been used to add and remove amendments, not pass entire bills without a vote. And certainly not for a giant, new and unaffordable entitlement program. And certainly not one that has zero bipartisan support.

Some have argued that the "Gephardt Rule" (House Rule XXVII) -in which a similar "self-executing rule" "deemed" the house to have voted on a new debt ceiling, is valid precedent. Wrong. That rule was for a joint resolution--not a bill. A joint resolution is a guide to the house. It is not a bill under the constitution, and has no force of law. Because a president has nothing to do with a resolution, a self-executing rule is valid for a resolution, but not for a bill.

As Michael McConnell -- director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School -- explained yesterday, the Slaughter Solution is clearly unconsitutional.

So, yes, let's create the largest entitlement program in history, but not require any House Democrat to actually vote on it.

Let's require everyone in the country to purchase a product (health insurance), but exempt Congress, without having an actual vote on the matter.

Maybe they'll pass a rule that says midterm elections aren't necessary either. After all, that's clearly in the Constitution as well -- along with how bills become laws.

I guess this is the "fundamental change" we were promised.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Fourteen Months of Hell: A Brief, Illustrated History of the Ill-Fated Democrat Health Care Nationalization Efforts of 2009-10

Possessing a treasure trove of political capital -- and fresh from narrow legislative victories over Republicans in passing a Stimulus program; an Omnibus spending bill; auto company takeovers; housing recovery programs and cap-and-trade -- Democrats decided it was time to target the health care industry.

Their goal -- using accounting gimmickry, outright fabrications and straw villains (doctors who do too many amputations, health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, etc.) -- convince the public that a government takeover of the entire health system would result in higher quality and lower costs while insuring between 30 and 50 million more individuals.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Democrats kowtowed to the SEIU and the trial lawyers while shutting Republican ideas completely out of the discussion.

During the August recess of 2009, Democrats either avoided town hall meetings altogether or faced a barrage of criticism from concerned citizens. Democrats ignored their constituents, preferring the tender mercies of their caucus leaders.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Democrats labeled us Nazis, and racists, and obscene names galore, though people of every race, religion, creed and color had joined us.

Democrats even dispatched their brown shirts: SEIU and ACORN thugs to shout down -- and beat down -- ordinary American citizens.

Obama and a compliant legacy media decided their message wasn't clear: more speeches, more network specials, more vilification of doctors, insurers and pharma companies.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Democrats accused Republicans of being the "Party of No" (intentionally ignoring the obscurely named healthcare.gop.gov website)... of being obstructionists (though Republicans did not have the numbers to block anything).

But in the purple state of Virginia -- which had been trending Democrat -- the citizenry swept the board, erasing Democrats in every key race and voting in a new, conservative governor.

And in the deep blue state of New Jersey, and against all odds, a landslide prevented the theft of another election by ACORN's voter registration-and-absentee ballot scams. And a fiscally conservative Republican governor was elected.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Democrats plowed ahead with a Senate health care overhaul anyhow. Using armtwisting and outright bribery -- the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, and other outrageous payoffs -- the Senate was finally able to pass a bill by a single vote. On December 24th, when most Americans were traveling, or celebrating Christmas, or thinking of their loved ones, Democrats were passing one of the sleaziest bills in history on purely partisan lines.

In the bluest of blue states, the people spoke. They elected Scott Brown, a fiscally conservative Republican to the Senate, to occupy the so-called "Kennedy Seat". He ran on a platform that included an explicit promise to stop Obamacare in its tracks.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Then Democrats plotted to delay the seating of Scott Brown in order to get their bill passed.

Once this diabolical tactic was exposed, they denied they'd ever have thought of such a thing.

And at his State of the Union address, the President publicly rebuked the Supreme Court for upholding the rights of any corporation (not just media companies) to free speech.

Democrats surrounded the Justices, spittle flying from their lips onto black robes, as they screamed their approval of the President's divisive words.

With 60 votes out of the question and 216 questionable at best, Democrats decided to break Congressional rules and jam a bill using a controversial "reconciliation" process -- by claiming that nationalizing one-sixth of the economy was a "budgetary" matter.

The people rebelled. They said hell, no.

Now the questionable 216 Democrats were wavering; the possibility of the House passing the Senate bill had faded.

So Democrats invented a novel -- and completely unconstitutional -- method of passing the Senate bill. They would use the "Slaughter Solution", a procedural ruling that would 'deem' that the House had passed the Senate bill, when in fact it never had. Put simply, the House would pretend that they'd voted on the bill, but never truly vote on it, presumably to spare their members the stain of supporting such a disastrous piece of legislation.

Tomorrow, in the Capitol Building, the people say again: No. This is the people's house. And we say: a thousand times: no. A trillion times: no.

Where are the Democrats of courage who will stand up to this despicable charade and say hell, no?

If the Republic is to survive, we must crush this despotic scheme.

We must say, hell, no, now and forever. And these petty bureaucrats, these would-be oligarchs, who have forgotten that the Constitution exists (or never read it in the first place) must be reminded of the highest law in the land.

That which is unconstitutional must be treated as a cancer and surgically removed. Those who advocate this dangerous and destructive lawlessness must be removed from office and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.


Inspired by: If you try the Slaughter Rule, you will lose the country. Not in November. In March. (by E Pluribus Unum).

Sources: "Budget Committee is all smoke and mirrors" -- Slaughter Solution Will Be Used "Likely Wednesday"

Operative 'Deep Tort' sent us this update at 5:31pm from his sources inside the House. This information jibes with late-breaking reports that Pelosi has several options on the table.

I am still hearing the scenario I circulated earlier (listed below as Scenario 2, "Slaughter Solution 1") is the most likely. But here are the 5 possible scenarios for moving health care through the House.

Senate Bill (Senate Amendment to H.R. 3950)
Reconciliation "Sidecar" (yet to be reported by Budget Committee
Scenario 1: "Play it Straight" Rule provides for an up or down vote Rule provides for an up or down vote
Scenario 2: "Slaughter Solution 1" Rule "deems" the Senate bill passed immediately and sends the bill to the President Rule provides for an up or down vote
Scenario 3: "Slaughter Solution 2"
Rule "deems" the Senate bill passed upon House adoption of reconciliation sidecar Rule provides for an up or down vote
Scenario 4: "Slaughter Solution 3" Rule "deems" the Senate bill passed when the Senate passes the reconciliation sidecar Rule provides for an up or down vote
Scenario 5: "The Double Whammy"
Rule #2 "deems the Senate bill passed immediately and sends the bill to the resident Rule #1 allows the Rules Committee to turn off the motion to recommit Rule #2 "deems" the sidecar bill passed immediately and sends the bill to the Senate


Later (6:30pm ET):

The budget committee is all smoke and mirrors. They are required to pass out a budget reconciliation bill in order to start the process. They just dressed up an old version of the House bill in reconciliation clothes so Pelosi and the rules committee have a vehicle they can completely amend with their own reconciliation instructions.

Likely Wednesday, the rules committee will report a rule which essentially does 3 things. 1) sets the time for debate; 2) makes 1 substitute amendment in order; and 3) deems the Senate bill passed.

The House will proceed on 3 votes on health care.

1) approval of the rule (this will be the big vote since it passes the Senate bill by default)
2) approval of the leadership/rules Amendment in the nature of the substitute (strip the budget committee text with the leadership text)
3) final passage

Thoughts appreciated.

Related:
Fourteen Months of Hell: A Brief, Illustrated History of the Ill-Fated Democrat Health Care Nationalization Efforts of 2009-10
The 'Slaughter Solution' -- the Legislative Equivalent of Martial Law

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Michael McConnell of Stanford Law: 'Slaughter solution cannot be squared with Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution'

Excerpted from tomorrow's Wall Street Journal (apologies, Rupert, but this one is way too important to keep completely behind the pay-wall):

Democratic congressional leaders have floated a plan to enact health-care reform by a procedure dubbed “the Slaughter solution.” ...Democrats would pass a rule that deems the Senate’s health-care bill to have passed the House, without the House actually voting on the bill. This would enable Congress to vote on legislation that fixes flaws in the Senate health-care bill without facing a Senate filibuster, and without requiring House members to vote in favor of a Senate bill that is now politically toxic.

The Slaughter solution cannot be squared with Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution.

...Last Christmas Eve, the Senate approved a health-care bill by 60 votes, overcoming a Republican filibuster. This is the bill that contains the so-called Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana purchase, taxes on high-cost health insurance plans and coverage for abortions. Virtually no one now supports that version of the bill, but Senate Democrats no longer have enough votes to pass an alternative bill under ordinary procedures.

That is where reconciliation fits in. If the House passes the Senate bill and the president then signs it into law, reconciliation would permit Congress to pass new legislation making changes to that law. Reconciliation might not solve the abortion coverage problem or other nonbudgetary issues, but it would allow Democrats to correct most of the Senate bill’s offensive features.

The rub is that, according to the Senate parliamentarian, reconciliation is permitted only for bills that amend existing law, not for amendments to bills that have yet to be enacted. This means that, for the Senate to be able to avoid a filibuster, House Democrats first have to vote for the identical bill that passed the Senate last Christmas Eve. That means voting aye on the special deals, aye on abortion coverage, and aye on high taxes on expensive health-insurance plans. Challengers are salivating at the prospect of running against incumbents who vote for these provisions.

Enter the Slaughter solution. It may be clever, but it is not constitutional. To become law—hence eligible for amendment via reconciliation—the Senate health-care bill must actually be signed into law. The Constitution speaks directly to how that is done. According to Article I, Section 7, in order for a “Bill” to “become a Law,” it “shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate” and be “presented to the President of the United States” for signature or veto. Unless a bill actually has “passed” both Houses, it cannot be presented to the president and cannot become a law.

To be sure, each House of Congress has power to “determine the Rules of its Proceedings.” ...But House and Senate rules cannot dispense with the bare-bones requirements of the Constitution. Under Article I, Section 7, passage of one bill cannot be deemed to be enactment of another.

The Slaughter solution attempts to allow the House to pass the Senate bill, plus a bill amending it, with a single vote. The senators would then vote only on the amendatory bill. But this means that no single bill will have passed both houses in the same form. As the Supreme Court wrote in Clinton v. City of New York (1998), a bill containing the “exact text” must be approved by one house; the other house must approve “precisely the same text.”

These constitutional rules set forth in Article I are not mere exercises in formalism. They ensure the democratic accountability of our representatives. Under Section 7, no bill can become law unless it is put up for public vote by both houses of Congress, and under Section 5 “the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question . . . shall be entered on the Journal.” These requirements enable the people to evaluate whether their representatives are promoting their interests and the public good. Democratic leaders have not announced whether they will pursue the Slaughter solution. But the very purpose of it is to enable members of the House to vote for something without appearing to do so. The Constitution was drafted to prevent that.

Mr. McConnell is a professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He formerly served as a judge for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

McConnell's assessment squares with those of other Constitutional experts who believe that the use of the "Slaughter Solution" is "preposterous" and "dangerous".

Democrats are holding a match to the very fabric of our society.


Robert Gibbs: Even if I have to personally break into the Smithsonian with a blowtorch and burn the Constitution, we will pass health care this week

Memo to Democrats: you'll get the Constitution from us when you pry it from our cold, dead hands. The Hill reports:

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.”

President Barack Obama will look to campaign on the new healthcare law in midterm elections, Gibbs said.

“We believe healthcare reform is going to pass, and once it passes we’re happy to have the 2010 elections be about the achievement of healthcare reform,” Gibbs said.

I never, in my wildest imagination, thought that the Democrat Party would take it this far. That they would move so far to the left that even Hugo Chavez is stunned.

If you have any way to get to the Capitol Building, join the march on Tuesday to stop the slaughter of the U.S. Constitution.


Chris van Hollen's memo to Democrats describes how the U.S. Constitution will be shredded this week; the "Slaughter Rule" is a go

The detestable menace Chris van Hollen (D-MD) sent out the following memo to House Democrats earlier today.

TODAY or MONDAY: CBO will publish final scores on legislative language

THEN: House Budget Committee must approve using the reconciliation process to pass this

THEN: The bill will go to the Rules Committee, rule will be constructed for consideration on the floor, and language will be posted online (on the Rules website) and the 72-hour clock will start. When this happens, we will start to have a better idea on what the process will be.

THEN: A Manager’s Amendment will be constructed that will make some final changes

THEN: The Manager’s Amendment will be posted online and the 72-hour clock will start (this may overlap with the 72-hour clock on the reconciliation language). When Manager’s Amendment is done final process decisions will be locked in.

THIS MEANS: We will likely vote Friday or Saturday. (As you probably saw, POTUS pushed back the departure for his Asian trip from Thursday the 18th to Sunday the 21st; this was not a coincidence.) The Speaker has publically committed to trying to get a vote on both the reconciliation bill and the Senate bill on the same day. They are still trying to work out the final process on this and much of what we do depends on what the Senate Parliamentarian decides. You may be receiving calls about the “Slaughter Rule” and other rumors about what the process will be. Again, please understand: no decision has yet been made on the process for consideration on the House floor.

Of course a decision has been made. We're hours away from Slaughter revealing the strategy and Democrats have no other mechanism to pass a bill other than using an extra-Constitutional procedure. They don't have the votes to pass the Senate Bill, so they are -- for the first time in U.S. history -- about to rule that they actually passed a bill they never voted on.

On Fox News Sunday, van Hollen suggested that the Slaughter Rule was still a major component of the Democrats' plans.

Van Hollen responded to [Rep. Eric] Cantor by saying that “we are going to have an up or down vote, whether it is going to be on the Senate bill or a procedure that will include passage of the Senate bill recognizing that we are amending the Senate bill.” An up or down vote on a procedure is not an up or down vote on a bill. Van Hollen was quick to attempt a shift away from this procedural debate, but Cantor brought the discussion back to this questionable procedure.

Earlier today, the Heritage Foundation reported the aptly-named "Slaughter Rule" is a done deal.

The Budget Committee will meet Monday to start marking up a shell of a Reconciliation Bill. The Rules Committee will then meet as early as Wednesday to hollow out whatever the Budget Committee passed and then insert a new bill from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office. The Majority is still planning to use the “Slaughter Rule” that would allow the House to pass the Senate health care bill without voting on it. Final votes are expected to stretch into the weekend.

That is why Tuesday is such an important milestone. If you have any way to get to the Capitol Building, join the march to stop the slaughter of the U.S. Constitution.


Hat tip: Heartland.