The Post-Summit Plan: Reconciliation

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
June 21, 2011

4 min read

ObamaCare

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At the Health Care Summit, the President - along with House and Senate Democrats - rejected what most Americans are demanding - that Congress drop the flawed existing health care plans on the table - and start over.

This so-called 'summit' clarified only one thing:  that the Democrat-controlled Congress is moving forward to push through a government-run, pro-abortion health care plan using a legislative maneuver called 'reconciliation' - where the Senate needs only 51 votes to pass a massive comprehensive health care reform package representing one-fifth of our economy.  It's a one-sided tactic that rejects bipartisanship and is a maneuver that is intended to deal with minor budgetary issues - not major policy initiatives like massive health care reform.

In an amazing moment, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid actually said that 'no one has talked about reconciliation' being used to force through health care reform.  That after Sen. Reid himself along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have repeatedly discussed using this maneuver with reporters in recent days.

And, time after time, President Obama ignored pleas to start over again - to take the areas where both Democrats and Republicans agree - and start with a new proposal.  That's not going to happen because the next move is clear: reconciliation.

Even as the summit was underway, the White House Communications Director Linda Douglass told reporters:  "What hes looking at right now is a discussion in which we try to find common ground with Republicans and see if we can reach a consensus," Douglass said. "Certainly if that were not to be the case, he would be asking for a simple up or down majority vote and would certainly hope that the Republicans would not try to block that simple up or down majority vote."   That's reconciliation.

And, then President Obama seemed to suggest that the American people don't really care about how health care gets done - that they aren't interested in things like reconciliation when he said:  "I think the American people aren't always that interested in procedures inside the Senate. . . ."

The fact is, Mr. President, the American people do care about procedures - they do care about process - they do care about health care reform.  The truth is that the American people want health care reform that is fair, effective, affordable and protects life.

And, when it came to the issue of abortion - in more than six hours of debate - barely a mention.  President Obama refused to address the concern raised by House Minority Leader John Boehner who raised the issue by reminding everyone that the Senate-approved bill, the one President Obama has embraced - clears the way to use federal funds to pay for abortion.  Our detailed legal analysis of President Obama's plan is here.

The summit is over - and up next: reconciliation.

Consider the fact that Democrats were already putting the wheels in motion to use this heavy-handed legislative scheme to push through health care - even as the summit was underway.  This from Politico.com

"A Democratic official said the six-hour summit was expected to 'give a face to gridlock, in the form of House and Senate Republicans.'  Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week, the strategists said.  After the summit, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid planned to take the temperature of their caucuses.  'The point [of the summit] is to alter the political atmospherics, and it will take a day or two to sense if it succeeded,' the official said."

The battle ahead is clear - the American people understand what's happening.  Most Americans want to start over.  Most Americans don't want the Senate to use reconciliation.  And, most Americans want health care reform that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.

That's why it is so important to stand up and so NO to reconciliation - say NO to a one-sided, legislative scheme to approve a significantly flawed, pro-abortion health care package.

That's why it's important for you to stand with us now. You can make a difference. Add your name to our petition.  It's now more important than ever.