Obama May Use Legislative Ploy to Jam Through Health, Tax Bills

[Sarah G]

I really don't think he's going to have to jam anything through, that is the beauty of winning such a decisive majority in both houses of congress.

There are enough Rs who will go along in the senate.

 

[DavidS]

You mean a President will try to cram through his agenda with a congress of the same political party? That's never happened before!!

*insert sarcasm here*

We had six years of it and not one right winger bitched.

So why is it ok for Obama to do it if you didn't agree with Bush doing it?

Actually, I did think it was OK for Bush to do it. I didn't agree with a lot of his ideas, but I want my president doing what he believes is the right thing for this county. And since the Republicans are not being bi-partisan/let's negotiate on this and talk it out and instead being the party of NO, they've given Obama no other choice. He tried negotiating with the Republicans and they blocked him. There's a reason why all you need is 51 votes to pass legislation is in the constitution.

 

[DavidS]

You mean a President will try to cram through his agenda with a congress of the same political party? That's never happened before!!

*insert sarcasm here*

We had six years of it and not one right winger bitched.

They're absolutely not conservatives when they were socializing our economic system for the past 8 years and bringing it to the brink of destruction with excess spending.

Not to mention, I sure as hell protested as did everyone at the Mises and CATO institutes.

Six years of too much spending can't be solved by four more years of too much spending. There are too many unemployed people that have to shoulder that shit, and it won't last for that much longer.

I disagree. We need to spend money to create jobs.

 

[ScreamingEagle]

Such a straight forward, simple question . . . . yet, what's that I hear? Silence.

The answer is that you guys had your way for eight years, and we have two failed wars, an economic debacle, and a citizenary that are totally pissed with the Conservative incompetance and corruption.

What you are terrified of, with justification, is that Obama will ram through his agenda, and it will work. That would be a very stark contrast to the last eight years.

So far I've seen little difference to the last 8 years, and that doesn't answer why something that was wrong for Bush is ok for Obama.

Bush only used reconciliation 3 times and that was to enact 3 major tax cuts.

Clinton used reconciliation to enact his 1993 budget. He tried to use reconciliation to pass his health care plan but Senator Robert Byrd insisted that the health care plan was out of bounds for a process that is theoretically about budgets.

Reconciliation generally involves legislation that changes the budget deficit (or conceivably, the surplus). The "Byrd Rule" (2 U.S.C. § 644) outlines what reconciliation can and cannot be used for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(Senate)

Seems to me that Obama's tactic to use reconciliation would infringe on the "Byrd Rule".