March 18, 2010 - Sunday, the Senate, and the Constitution
Thursday, 18 March 2010 16:42
Quote of the Day: “…if we can save money by adding 30 million people to our rolls, we need to go insure everybody in China and then we'll be done with the deficit. This bill is a disaster." – Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Sunday: It now appears that the earliest the Government -Run Healthcare vote will occur is Sunday afternoon. There is still strong bipartisan opposition. There is only single party support. As of now they do not have enough votes. Hopefully that will still be the case on Sunday. The President has again delayed his trip overseas to continue applying pressure on wavering Democrats. This is a change from his previous plan which was to have an Air Force jet fly him the bill in Indonesia to sign.
The Senate: We met this morning with our Republican Senate Colleagues. They made it clear that they have 18 “points of order” that they can and will raise if a reconciliation bill makes it to the Senate. This will not enable them to kill the bill (it will pass with only 50 votes plus the Vice President) but they will significantly change it. So, any House Democrat cannot be sure of what the final bill may look like as they vote. Even Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee acknowledged today that the bill will not pass the Senate in its current form. Furthermore, Senator Coburn also made it clear that he will put a hold on any presidential appointments that “sells” their vote and the member switches their vote from “no” to “yes” and later receives an appointment from the President. Those appointments can be held up for a long time. I am proud of these guys.
Massachusetts’s Senator Scott Brown was there as well. I had the chance to meet him and talk with him a bit as well as hear him speak. He is exactly what he appears to be. A regular guy with a Boston accent who ran because he doesn’t like what the crowd in charge is doing. He speaks plainly. I thank the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for him.
The Constitution: Remember that thing? There are plenty of people in Washington who would prefer to just as well ignore it. But if they do so in passing the biggest expansion of government and socialism in a generation, they will have a constitutional challenge. If Pelosi decides to “deem” the Senate bill passed without actually voting on it, we believe that to be unconstitutional.
If it’s so good….: There are lots of provisions that you see the Democratic leadership trumpeting as great things. But there are literally dozens of exemptions to those wonderful things scattered through the bill. If they are so wonderful, why do they exempt their friends from the wonderfulness of it? Here are a few examples:
• Prohibiting Insurance companies from terminating people for a pre-existing condition is one of the hallmarks of the bill, so say its proponents. But yet, they have exempted one of the nation’s largest insurers, AARP, from this provision. AARP is a very liberal organization that almost always supports all Democratic Party initiatives. AARP is also exempted from the “Cadillac plan tax” as are union plans and a particular insurance company in Michigan which serves a lot of union members. They will tell you that it is great for you, but it’s bad for Pelosi’s friends, so they have conveniently carved themselves out.
• Proponents also brag about a cut in the current Medicare Advantage program, one of the few parts of Medicare that works reasonably well. But, the bill excludes seniors in Florida. However, Florida has one of the highest percentages of seniors in the country. You guessed it, this is the exemption called the “Gator-Aid.”
The bill transfers many costs on to states. It would add about $4 billion a year to California’s already crushing deficit. That’s why 37 states are talking about suing the federal government if it passes. But with the Cornhusker kickback, Nebraska, along with a few other states, are exempted from some or all of this cost.
And don’t believe the garbage today that somehow this thing is going to reduce the deficit. It absolutely will not. More on that later.
Until tomorrow, I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Member of Congress
