Reid: "Having 60 votes more important than what is in the bill"

[Mass]

Sigh.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019269.php

REID TALKS ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT.... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) spoke on the floor this afternoon, and said he's confident that the Finance Committee will move on its health care reform bill before the August recess.

But his remarks also signaled some discouraging expectations about what Reid thinks is likely to be in the final bill.

"Any plan that passes the Senate will be fully paid for ... When all of the numbers are crunched, the number on the bottom line will be zero ... We are long overdue for changes in our health care system. The biggest cost to the American public is inaction."

"What I think should be in the bill is something that I will vote for according to my conscience when we get this bill to the floor ... But I have a responsibility to get a bill to the Senate floor that will get 60 votes that we can proceed toward."

"That's my number one responsibility and there are times I have to set aside my personal preferences for the good of the Senate and I think the country."

The Majority Leader didn't use the words "public option," but it certainly seemed like he was hinting, didn't it? What matter is will "get 60 votes," which is more important, he said, than what he thinks "should be in the bill."

Would now be a good time to mention that Reid is the leader of a 60-member caucus?

Howard Dean (appearing in front of a very familiar backdrop) rhetorically asked Rachel Maddow last night, "hat's the point of having a 60 vote majority in the United States Senate, if you can't produce ... health care reform?"

[rucky]

1. I hope we have some good Primary challengers in 2010 & 12. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

17. Yup.

[truedelphi]

20. Same here. If only this bill affected their personal health care,

Congress critters would have had their staffs read it over the weekend.

And it would be a wonderful bill. And it woul dbe voted onbeofre their recess.

But we are only the Voters who are Left Behind all the excrement trailing from the rear end of the Big One Money Party.

While the lobbyists get the gold, and the politicians get their campaign contributions.

[valerief]

2. So his number one responsibility is the good of the Senate, not the country.

And sixty votes for shit is all we can expect.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Technically, he's right (60 votes required or nothing happens) but that's a totally shitty frame...

and a stupid thing to say.

[ladywnch]

19. I thought that since this is a 'reconciliation' bill that 60 votes was not

required only a simply majority. wasn't that the whole point of using the reconciliation procedure?

[NYC Democrat]

25. reconciliation is on this bill is not active till october its more of a fallback plan.

[4lbs]

4. So, Reid thinks 60 votes on subpar health bills is more important than 52 votes on a health bill

that includes a public option?

Anyone in Nevada ashamed of Reid yet?

[DJ13]

5. Having a REAL leader is more important than having Reid in charge

[AngryOldDem]

6. He is SUCH a useless POS.

[kenny blankenship]

7. First they make you sigh, then they make you want to vomit.

Then they make you sigh again. And pretty soon afterwards you feel you want to vomit. But then it hits you and you have to sigh. And just like that, you now have to vomit. Finally you let out a sigh, which trails off like a burbling overture to a Mahlerian symphony of vomit. Then leaning over the commode you have to sigh. Stroking your forehead weakly you have to vomit. But if you're being honest with yourself, you know the retching will someday stop and you can look forward to being able once more to sigh. Resolving to see the glass half full, you can rest assured that again you will then immediately want to vomit.

[Merlot]

13. I think you've adequatly summed it up.

[kenny blankenship]

29. I could go on.

[Faryn Balyncd]

8. NEVER has a statyement been made than better sums up ALL that is WRONG with our party!!! K&R

Whatever bill comes out of the Senate needs to be DEFEATED.

Reid needs to go. He clearly has no rationale for holding office.

There is absolutely no reason to fight for a bill that is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, wrong, and which will make reform more difficult.

[Autumn]

9. "for the good of the Senate and I think the country."

How about thinking about what is good for Americans. Asshole.

[tularetom]

10. Congress is worthless. The Senate is worse than the House. And Harry Reid

is the most worthless member of the Senate.

If the American people fail to get decent health care out of this, we will need a scapegoat. Harry is looking pretty good.

[marshall]

11. Is he trying to talk about compromise?

Because I acknowledge that our system of government is designed to promote compromise between parties of differing views, opinions, and approaches. But Reid certainly could have worded this better. He makes it sound like the process (government bureaucracy) is more important than the result (democratic government).

[NYC Democrat]

26. to the senate the process IS more important then the result.

[Odin2005]

12. Fuck you, Harry!

:puke:

[Raineyb]

14. This is why Reid is a useless POS

He needs to join the ranks of the unemployed.

[damntexdem]

15. What unadulterated crap!

Time to deweed the Reid.

[Vinca]

16. If only the 60 votes are important to Harry, they might as well fold up the tent

and go home for good. This isn't an exercise in political congeniality, it's fucking life and death for a whole lot of people. WTF is wrong with him?

[depakid]

18. Reid has a responsibility to the American people to use reconciliation

to thwart corruption and get responsible reform through the Senate.

AND if and when he doesn't, we have all have responsibility to defeat the guy in Nevada- even if that means replacing him with a Republican.

[d_b]

21. how do we strip this fucking clown of his 'leadership'?

[MarjorieG]

22. I think they're playing it close, not tipping hand. Baucus Committee of 6 brings in 12 million more

and doesn't reform. We can reform at no extra cost, but to justify spending we need to cover more people.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

23. Fucking asshole.

Senate First! Country second or third or however else this fuck prioritizes it.

[pleah]

24. So, what is in the bill isn't important?

Damn it! Can we get someone to replace this idiot? :mad:

[babylonsister]

27. What a bunch of poop. Problem is,

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/?last_story=/politics/war_room/2009/07/28/public_option/

snip//

"What I think should be in the bill is something that I will vote for according to my conscience when we get this bill to the floor,” Reid said Tuesday. “But I have a responsibility to get a bill to the Senate floor that will get 60 votes that we can proceed toward .... There are times I have to set aside my personal preferences for the good of the Senate and, I think, the country."

Problem is, every other bill currently under consideration includes a public option, and in the House, there might not be enough Democratic votes for the final bill if it doesn't include the government plan. That will mean further headaches down the line, especially when it comes time to reconcile the bills passed by each chamber.

[Mass]

28. The problem is that the Senate seems to be missing the leadership to push the

public option.

The most vocal supporters are Whitehouse, Brown, and Sanders, all of which are relatively new in the Senate.

Dodd is weakened by his reelection campaign and his ethics problems, and Rockefeller, who is a strong public option supporter and the head of the Healthcare subcommittee in the Finance Committee, is being ignored by Baucus and is not very dynamic anyway.

This seems very worrisome.

[babylonsister]

30. I've been looking for anything from Rockefeller. Crickets.

OTOH, I just read this which I didn't know, from Ezra Klein-good analysis even though it's disheartening:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6172803&mesg_id=6172803

snip//

But it's also worth offering a more general reality check here: The public option is not now, and has not ever, been the core of the argument for heath-care reform. It is the core of the fight in Washington, D.C. It is an important policy experiment. But it was not in Howard Dean or John Kerry or Dick Gephardt's plans, and reformers supported those. It was not in Bill Clinton's proposal, and most lament the death of that. It is not what politicians were using in their speeches five years ago. It is a recent addition to the debate, and a good one. But it is not the reason were are having this debate.

[Mass]

32. I've seen a couple of articles where he protested about co-ops these last few days.

Here is the last one.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2815702120090728


I read Ezra Klein analysis. It is good, but I had hoped that, since 2004, we had moved one and that something that was not acceptable 4 years ago would seem acceptable today. Very disheartening because he is usually well informed.

[babylonsister]

33. I don't blame it on Klein being misinformed. This is the reality we're

going to have to come to grips with.

[MBS]

31. classic Harry Reid. "Sigh" is right. n/t

[quaker bill]

34. The point is

to get the bill, some bill, passed and into conference. Without a bill, any bill, some kind of bill passed by the Senate, there is no conference. The little matter that comes next is called reconciliation. A reconciliation bill has a 51 vote cloture, no ammendments and strictly limited debate. The House will pass the public option by a wide margin, this puts public option on the table for the reconciliation bill. Public option will be brought out of conference to the Senate floor for an up or down vote with 50+ Biden margin needed to pass it into law. The blue dogs can then do what they will, and it passes anyway.

What the Senate passes is not relevant. The House is leading this. Senate rules can be played to advantage by simply getting a bill, any bill passed. Reid is correct, what matters at this juncture is 60 votes as that is what gets us to conference and reconciliation.