John McCain tries to do a “Gang of 14” on Reconciliation

John McCain is up to his old bipartisan tricks again.  This time he is trying to get together another “Gang of 14” of stop reconciliation. 

From The Hill: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is seeking bipartisan support to block Senate Democrats from using special parliamentary tactics to pass healthcare reform. 

The Democratic strategy of using reconciliation to pass changes to the healthcare bill is reminiscent of Republican attempts to force President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees through with a simple majority vote, McCain said Thursday. He implored centrist Democrats to think about the consequences. He even invoked President Barack Obama’s own words to make his case.

And McCain reminded Democrats that he was a member of the bipartisan Gang of 14, which stopped Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) from using the so-called nuclear option in 2005.

It's time for a similar gang, he said. So far, he’s had no takers.

To me, this just proves that John McCain has no understanding what is going on with the tricks being used to foist health care reform on the people.  The action does not lie in the Senate. The true threat of this bill’s passage comes from the House. Should the House vote for the Senate Bill in hopes that the Senate will reconcile it, they would have actually voted to pass the Senate bill, because Obama would signed the flawed bill into law.  I am sure there will be some motions of trying to reconcile the bill in the Senate, but it would all be Kabuki Theater before signing the Senate version into law.

If McCain really wants to use bipartisanship to stop health care reform, he had better start working with his friends in the House, because if he creates a Gang of 14 in the Senate, then he will be giving Obama a very big excuse to sign the flawed bill that the House might pass.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Hill