 Senator Harry Reid is kicking the debate of his health care bill into high gear. Knowing full well that his Democrat colleagues are not accustomed to working through both Saturday and Sunday, he figures after an entire weekend of work, they'll likely agree to anything. The Republicans, no less subject to debate fatigue at least seem to be holding the line, fighting for more time and forcing the Dems to vote on some politically volatile amendments. The Senate minority it turning up the heat on the Dems, but not nearly enough.
Republicans have been forcing Democrats to openly deal with the Medicare payment cuts that will be necessary to finance this health insurance reform they so desperately want. The amendments in general, would protect billions in Medicare payments that Dems know must be sacrificed to help fund their "reform". So far, the Democrats have defeated two such amendments, essentially voting to cut Medicare benefits, and a third is on the way. Republican leadership is making them squirm, and these votes will help put many Dems out of office, but Conservatives in the Senate will need more than that to defeat this bill.
If the Republicans want to bring this thing to a screeching halt, all they have to do is force a vote on an amendment to make the "reform" effective immediately. The Dems can't possibly agree to that for two reasons: First, if they can't spread the expense of an eight year program over 10 years, the actual costs will become apparent for all to see. Second the real results of this program, like employers dropping employee insurance plans in favor of paying a less expensive fine, won't be seen until after the 2012 presidential election. If this bill's consequences were to become apparent immediately, Democrats will experience an election bloodbath in 2012 unprecedented in this Country.
If the Democrats defeat such an amendment, they are then in the position of having to explain to the American people why such a good, noble and necessary reform should be delayed four years, while another “million a year lose their health insurance” and scores of others “go bankrupt or die for lack of it”. This is a case where they can't have their cake and eat it too. Maybe they are just hoping to have been thrown out of office by the time the crap hits the fan.
It is virtually certain that Reid will attempt to force bill passage before allowing Senators to go home for the Christmas recess. We need more time. The American people aren't as dim as our lawmakers want to believe, and given enough time they are beginning to see this legislation for the stunningly expensive Government take over that it is. Nowhere does it address reducing medical costs, it simply picks up the check using taxpayer money, and that is not good for anyone in this Country.
Polls show that the majority of Americans don't support this reform, (Gallup , Rasmussen ) yet Dems doggedly refuse to acknowledge that fact. If they hope to stop this juggernaut, Conservatives in the Senate have to keep the heat on. It is not enough for Democrats to simply own the bill, they have to also own all of its nuance and consequences. It is time to crank the heat up to "high".
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