Well, the White House unveiled ObamaCare 2.0 today and the first thing that comes to my mind is; this is the same pig as before, but now with bright red lipstick!
The price for ObamaCare 2.0 is supposed to be $950 billion and "deficit neutral". If you believe that, you have not been paying attention. All the nasty aspects of the Senate bill are there, new taxes, mandates, the union exemption and the Louisiana Purchase. Added into the mix are price controls.
What is missing is any public option, which is sure to be a problem for the more liberal Democrats. Federal funding of abortion is still in there and that will be problematic for the now skittish moderates.
Since ObamaCare 2.0 is not written in legislative language don’t expect an accurate scoring and don’t expect a score before the summit.
I cannot imagine there being enough votes to pass this bill. This bill has to be voted on in the House where everyone is up for re-election. I cannot imagine there are 218 Democrats insane enough to vote for pretty much the same bill the public thoroughly rejected already. As far as there being 50 Democrats in the Senate willing to push this bill through using reconciliation, is also a major doubt.
What I do see is Republicans fighting hard against it and that seems to be what Obama and the Democrats need most. Unlike the Senate bill that died without Republican involvement, ObamaCare 2.0 can be blamed on Republicans and thus get the Democrats off the hook.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: CBO
Via: The Wonk Room
Via: Pundit and Pundette
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6 comments:
"What I do see is Republicans fighting hard against it and that seems to be what Obama and the Democrats need most. Unlike the Senate bill that died without Republican involvement, ObamaCare 2.0 can be blamed on Republicans and thus get the Democrats off the hook." - I think you nailed it with the last line. They had to give Republicans something to say NO to on Thursday and thereafter. The American people said no the first time around. Now its time to re-frame the debate...
Republican Redefined:
Thanks. I never believed that there was any chance to pass ObamaCare, once it became obvious that Scott Brown was going to win. If Democrats had the votes, they would have passed the stupid bill before Brown's election. The fact that they didn't and still haven't is only more proof they can't.
If Republicans were smart, they would have said no to the shame summit and dared Democrats to pass the bill with reconciliation. It would have called their bluff.
I agree with you Clifton. BTW was your headline a rhetorical question? LOL! I wish I could get to your site more often. Always enjoy your posts.
They are reframing the debate, all right--but not in the way they hoped. Before this Health Care oinker was a maddening abuse of power. Now it's a pitiful embarrassment to the Dems.
Jenny:
LOl, when you read the bill, you just have to ask the question.
I wish you could stop by more often too Jenny. Hit the subscription button on the right and use the RSS feed.
Quite Rightly:
They are reframing the debate for their base. If the base realizes that Dems screw up their best chance to pass healthcare reform, they will not show up in 2010 or 2012 and the outrage would be like WWIII
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