The word “reconciliation” is becoming a double entendre. From a religious standpoint, reconciliation is the practice of being forgiven for one’s wrongdoing.
Lately, though, it refers to the White House’s attempt to ram through Congress a multi-trillion-dollar health care bill that raises taxes, increases costs and cuts Medicare in order to fund a new entitlement our country can’t afford.
Reconciliation is an arcane practice designed to help pass budgetary issues through the Senate with only a simple majority. What is ironic about Democrats invoking reconciliation to pass the White House health care bill is that it does not reconcile at all. Instead, it divides the country on a contentious, deeply personal issue.
The voters will not offer Democrats an easy penance in November, if they opt to utilize the reconciliation procedure. Those who vote in favor of the White House’s health care takeover will not be forgiven at the polls on Election Day.
According to a recent Rasmussen Poll, 56 percent of Americans are opposed to the White House’s current health care proposal and another 55 percent support scrapping the current proposal and starting over from scratch.
Despite obvious distaste for the legislation, Democrats, desperate for a major legislative achievement, are bent on passing health care. Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) 41st vote in the Senate has complicated the matter for Democrats, thus prompting President Obama to pressure Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his cronies to use the reconciliation procedure to pass health care reform through the Senate.
With Republicans standing strongly unified against the measure in both chambers, every Democrat, including those who previously voted against health care reform, will be called upon to help pass the Senate’s version of health care, which includes provisions for government-funded abortion. The inclusion of government-subsidized abortion is one main impediment Democrats must overcome to garner enough votes to pass health care reform, and it may be insurmountable.
The reconciliation procedure has many rules designed to protect the minority party. One such rule allows the minority party to demand any non-budgetary spending be stricken from the bill, thus empowering Senate Republicans to omit many of the deals House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will have in place to court her conservative Democrats.
One deal known as the Stupak Amendment bans government-funded abortion. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and 12 of his followers are adamantly opposed to any legislation that funds abortion and are threatening to vote against the health care proposal unless anti-abortion provisions are secured.
To garner Stupak’s support, Pelosi will likely be forced to include his amendment in the House’s final version before sending it to the Senate. That’s where it gets very tricky. The Senate Republicans will then demand this non-budgetary provision be omitted from final language, making reconciliation impossible and killing Obama’s health care takeover measure. Without Stupak’s language, conservative House Democrats will never support the bill in final passage.
The Democrats attempt at using the reconciliation procedure presents a perfect storm for Republicans to capitalize on this election cycle. Using the reconciliation process presents a precarious situation for Democrats. If Democrats are successful in passing health care takeover legislation, the electorate will rebuke them in November.
On the other hand, if they use reconciliation, but fall short of the votes necessary for passage the Republicans will make this their rallying call for the next nine months.
Let’s not forget about liberals in the Democratic Party either. If Democrats fail to pass legislation aligned with their liberal base they will be in danger of losing liberal support both on health care reform and on Election Day. Under each scenario, Republicans will be emboldened, and Democrats will pay dearly at the polls.
Obama does deserve some credit, however. He is well aware that passing the unpopular legislation will produce severe backlash against him in November’s midterm election. Despite this, he is pressing onward to fulfill his campaign promise of health care reform. In light of the resounding opposition to his proposal, he is displaying rare political courage (or stupidity).
However, he is also using poor judgment by threatening the use of the reconciliation procedure to force passage of his proposal. Finally, he needs to do better than simply paying Republicans lip service on their solutions to health care reform. Otherwise, voters will not be forgiving towards his party this coming November for his past poor judgment.
If the President wants to avoid a disastrous midterm election and truly be bipartisan, he should make real attempts beyond a staged health care summit to incorporate conservative principles. He should scrap the current proposal and stop threatening to use the divisive reconciliation procedure.
He should incorporate true conservative solutions including tort reform, health care portability (purchasing across state lines) and reward healthy lifestyle choices.
Mr. President, be pragmatic and voters will forgive you and your party for the mistakes being made today.
Hunter Lipscomb is a graduate student majoring in business administration. He can be contacted at [email protected].