THE PLANK OCTOBER 8, 2009
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explains why he opposes the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill:
“This partisan Finance Committee proposal will never see the Senate floor since the real bill will be written by Democrat leaders in a closed-to-the-public conference room somewhere in the Capitol."
Right. This is called "the legislative process." A bill comes out of a committee, then it goes to the floor, where it can be altered, then the other House votes on a bill, which can be different, and then the two bills are merged in a conference committee, resulting in still more potential alterations. McConnell's argument is an argument against any legislation.
It's pretty amazing. Republians have been arguing against health care reform by citing the deficit and the public option. Now there emerges a bill that cuts the deficit and contains no public option. Still, no Republicans will embrace it. (Olympia Snowe may well vote for it, but her low profile is itself evidence of the intense GOP partisan pressure against the bill.) Yet the Republicans still need a public rationale for their stance of total opposition. So the best they can come up with is a restatement of "how a bill becomes a law," only with a few rhetorical flourishes designed to make the legislative proces sound like some kind of conspiracy.
5 comments
It is clear that the GOP is working overtime to redefine themselves as champions of pure small-government. This entails unflappability to any proposition that entails number and facts: so long as any spending whatsover is involved (even if it turns out net budget savings, as the CBO verified did yesterday with the Baucus bill), they will vote it down. Their rejectionism is not even about ideology. No, its about selling an image to the public.
- dylanposer
October 8, 2009 at 2:07pm
This is less amazing to me than depressing familiar. These are the words of a partisan politician who is far more interested in winning than being constructive. These are words, which if written down, would be surrounded in "scare quotes". Try it: "...will be written by Democrat leaders in a closed-to-the-public conference room somewhere in the Capitol...". Sounds scary to me! That this is how all legislation is written (excepting that Democrat can be replaced by Republican depending on the date) is largely irrelevant, since this subtlety is most likely not appreciated by the large majority of the public. Instead they are intended to "scare" the begeezus out of people that the country is turning to socialism behind closed doors!
- Nari224
October 8, 2009 at 2:10pm
If Republican lawmakers were as resistant to new legislation and new spending when one of their own is in the White House, they might garner a little more respect. At least, there would be a principle beyond mere party. At the moment, however, treating them with contempt seems somewhat unfair to contempt.
- ironyroad
October 8, 2009 at 2:25pm
irony, that last line is pretty funny.
- blackton
October 8, 2009 at 7:14pm
Well, as we learned reading those Conservapedia Bible translation guidelines mentioned here the other day, the very word "government" itself is too liberal. It's about time the leading Republican in the Senate set an example by protesting the whole purpose of Congress.
- frippo
October 8, 2009 at 11:45pm