Saturday, March 13, 2010

Memo shows that Democrats are looking at next Friday or Saturday to vote on ObamaCare


Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is the assistant to Nasty Pelosi, sent out a memo to Democratic staffers telling them that they must clear their schedules for next Friday or Saturday. He says that Obama postponing his trip is no accident and that a vote is on ObamaCare is expected.

Here is the memo from Politico:  
Hi all –
Attached and below are some good resources to get through the health care push next week.
Here is my best guess on timeline but as always this is Congress so it could all change very quickly:
TODAY or MONDAY: CBO will publish final scores on legislative language
THEN: House Budget Committee must approve using the reconciliation process to pass this
THEN: The bill will go to the Rules Committee, rule will be constructed for consideration on the floor, and language will be posted online (on the Rules website) and the 72-hour clock will start. When this happens, we will start to have a better idea on what the process will be.
THEN: A Manager’s Amendment will be constructed that will make some final changes
THEN: The Manager’s Amendment will be posted online and the 72-hour clock will start (this may overlap with the 72-hour clock on the reconciliation language). When Manager’s Amendment is done final process decisions will be locked in. 
THIS MEANS: We will likely vote Friday or Saturday. (As you probably saw, POTUS pushed back the departure for his Asian trip from Thursday the 18th to Sunday the 21st; this was not a coincidence.) The Speaker has publically committed to trying to get a vote on both the reconciliation bill and the Senate bill on the same day. They are still trying to work out the final process on this and much of what we do depends on what the Senate Parliamentarian decides. You may be receiving calls about the “Slaughter Rule” and other rumors about what the process will be. Again, please understand: no decision has yet been made on the process for consideration on the House floor.
Key points:
1. I would have your Member’s schedule pretty clear for next weekend. They will either be here or exhausted (or both).
2. I continue to encourage all of you not to get into debates about process and to try and persuade your Member not to get into process arguments either. At this point, we have to just rip the band-aid off and have a vote -- up or down; yes or no? Things like reconciliation and what the rules committee does is INSIDE BASEBALL. People who try and start arguments about process on this are almost always against the actual policy substance too, often times for purely political reasons. 
3. Finally, I encourage you to study the final attached slide (#14) and give some thought to what your plan is post-vote, especially during Easter Work Period. If your Member is a yes, or might be a yes, I would lay the groundwork for some events to highlight the reforms that will quickly become law – no more donut hole, dependent children covered until 26, insurance access for those with pre-existing conditions, etc. 

Did you notice how Van Hollen makes reference to ignoring the process? The goal here is to keep House Democrats in the dark about the fact that there will be no amendments, no reconciliation and no fixes. Once they vote for the Senate version of the bill, it will become the law of the land, warts and all.

If you live in district with a Democratic House Rep. email them, snail mail them, fax them or phone them. Let them know exactly what they are voting for and exactly how you feel about it.

2 comments:

Diane Student said...

This makes me so angry! Why can't we get these people to listen to us? And do they think these tactics will make everything all right? And I love how they think they are going to pass the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill on the same day - that thundering noise if the Founding Fathers turning in their graves!

Anonymous said...

I've noticed in a large number of photos of Nasty Pelosi you can see the whites above her iris'. Now it could be all those botox injections but it reminds me of something I once read about the practice of face readings and character (kinda like palm reading) in which it said to consider a person unbalanced and dangerous if you see this white at the top of the eyeballs.Think Charles Manson. Ha-ha!

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