Charles Krauthammer, Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell Speak Out About Obama's Health Care

Markey, DeGette in middle of health care reform quagmire
Washington — President Barack Obama has laid out the path for Democrats' last-ditch effort to save Health Care reform, and despite some relief among lawmakers that a final strategy is set, it's almost certainly headed for a white-knuckle finish. The sticky choices faced by Democratic Reps. Betsy Markey of Fort Collins and Diana DeGette of Denver show the hurdles confronting House leaders as they try to wrangle the votes to approve the Senate version of the bill, then fix key elements...

Obama's final push for health care votes could falter in battle over abortion coverage
Washington — On the other side of the obstacle course that President Barack Obama must clear to get his Health Care overhaul, a final trapdoor is lurking: the divisive politics of Abortion. The issue pits House Democrats against each other just when Obama is calling on them to unite for one last push on Health Care in a perilous election year. The fate of the sweeping legislation to expand coverage and revamp the Health Insurance market hangs in the balance. House Democrats opposed to...

Obama renews pressure on Dems for health care bill
Washington — With support from his own party in doubt, President Barack Obama summoned more than a dozen House Democrats to the White House on Thursday, pleading with them to put aside their qualms, seize a historic moment and vote for his massive Health Care overhaul. It is the opportunity of a generation, he told them — and a chance to revive the party's agenda after his rough first year in Office. In back-to-back meetings in the Oval Office and the Roosevelt Room, Obama urged...

The Great Healthcare Robbery
“No one has talked about Reconciliation,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared during last week's Health Care summit. It was a lie shocking in its boldness. Live on national television, the Democrats' Leader in the U.S. Senate told the nation that not a single person had discussed even the possibility of using the Senate's Budget Reconciliation rules, which require a simple Majority vote instead of 60, as needed under regular Senate rules, to pass President Obama's...

Ezra Klein:
Trying to understand Health-care reform, but getting lost in the weeds? Don't worry, Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein can help. From individual mandates to Health Care exchanges, Klein explains it all. He was online Thursday, March 4 at Noon ET to take your questions on the Reconciliation process and President Obama's closing arguments for Health-care reform. _______________________ Robert Dove on Reconciliation: What do you make of former Senate parliamentarian Robert Dove's comments to...

Paul Ryan's GOP budget plan -- smoke and mirrors, too?
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) took a dig at the Congressional Budget Office during the Health-care summit last week that didn't sit right with me. "I work with [the people at the CBO] every single day -- very good people, great professionals. They do their jobs well," Ryan said at Blair House . "But their job is to score what is placed in front of them. And what has been placed in front of them is a bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors." The Wall Street Journal editorial page...

Obama Pleads With Dems to Pass His Health Bill
The president urges uneasy rank-and-file moderates and Progressives to focus on the positives rather than their deep disappointment with parts of his massive Health Care overhaul Washington -- President Barack Obama summoned more than a dozen Democrats from the House of Representatives to the White House, pleading with them to put aside their qualms and vote for his massive Health Care overhaul. In back-to-back meetings Thursday, Obama urged uneasy rank-and-file moderates and Progressives to...

Obama slams big health insurers for hikes in premiums
Washington - President Obama tried to shame some of the nations' top insurers Thursday into getting out of the way of his Health Care reform package. At the same meeting with heads of five big insurers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanded they hand over data justifying what she called "jaw-dropping" hikes in Insurance Premiums. "We need some transparency. We need people to understand what's going on," said Sebelius, who convened the meeting. Obama, who dropped by...

Sen. Byrd Undermines GOP Talking Point That He Opposes Reconciliation
Over the last few days, Republicans have repeatedly cited Sen. Robert Byrd’s (D-WV) opposition to passing comprehensive Health Care reform through the Reconciliation process as proof that Democrats are skirting Senate rules to “ ram through ” unpopular legislation. Republicans reason that if Byrd — the Senate pro tempore and an architect of Reconciliation — believes that the process cannot be applied to reform, then Democrats — who no longer have a...

Reconciliation: Byrd Invokes "Byrd Rule" - Kent Conrad and EJ Dionne Get It Right
Robert Byrd just came out in favor of using Reconciliation in Health reform. Since Reconciliation's also known as the "Byrd rule," that's a definitive a confirmation of its legitimacy as you can get. It's like having Chuck Berry saying "that's a good Chuck Berry lick," or having Mary propose a "Hail Mary pass." And the stars realigned themselves this week for Progressives, who found forceful new allies and advocates in unexpected quarters. Sen. Kent Conrad became the new spokesperson for...

Obama lobbies wavering Democrats on health care
President Obama and top Democrats set out Thursday to thwart defections and solidify support for their Health Care overhaul bill, focusing on skeptical rank-and-file House Democrats antsy about voting for the unpopular measure and then having to fend off Republican attacks in the Midterm Elections. A dozen House Democrats who supported the bill in the House said they'll vote against Mr. Obama's plan unless strong Abortion restrictions are inserted. Others question whether the Senate bill, the...

Obama: All Health Care, All the Time
A couple weeks ago, you know about the time the citizens of Massachusetts elected a Republican to fill a Senate seat Democrats had held since the Twilight of the Truman Administration, I thought I had read somewhere that President Obama planned to pivot away from Health Care and focus on jobs and the economy .

Hatch: Biden Will 'Go Down in History as a Real Dolt' If He Over-Rules Senate Parliamentarian and Lets The Dems Pass Health Care Without 60 Votes
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) (Congressional photo) (CNSNews.com) – Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that Vice President Joe Biden would “go down in history as a real dolt” if he used his power as president of the Senate to overrule the Senate parliamentarian on the legitimacy of procedural tactics that could allow the Democrats to enact their Health-care reform bill without getting the normally required 60 votes in the Senate.   Because the...

Krauthammer: Yes We Can Means Yes I Can Do Anything I Damn Well Please
More spot-on analysis by Charles Krauthammer. “This is a man who ran again as man who would clean up Washington, undue it’s wicked ways, banish the Lobbyists…And here he is proposing, demanding that the member of the House and the Senate ram through a procedure that it’s inventor Robert Byrd has said it would be a violation of the spirit and intent of the law, Budget Reconciliation if it were to be rammed through this way, look I’m not disillusioned in Obama...

Krauthammer on Obama: "Yes We Can Means Yes I Can Do Anything I Damn Well Please"
Krauthammer on Obama's plan for Reconciliation "One of the reason's he's in the low 40s" Krauthammer: "This is a man who ran again as man who would clean up Washington, undue it's wicked ways, banish the Lobbyists...And here he is proposing, demanding that the member of the House and the Senate ram through a procedure that it's inventor Robert Byrd has said it would be a violation of the spirit and intent of the law, Budget Reconciliation if it were to be rammed through this way, look I'm not...

Sen. Hatch: Biden Would 'Go Down in History as a Real Dolt' If He Tried To Influence Senate Parliamentarian Over Health Care
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that Vice President Joe Biden would “go down in history as a real dolt” if he tried to interfere with the Senate’s passage of Health Care reform through a parliamentary technique called “Reconciliation.”   Because the Democrat Caucus in the Senate no longer has 60 members with which to end debate on a bill (and prevent a Republican Filibuster), it is being reported that the Democrats may attempt to pass...

Cato's health care expert Cannon weighs in on reconciliation (NSFW)
Email Cato's Health Care expert Cannon weighs in on Reconciliation (NSFW) March 04, 2010 1:23 pm ET by Media Matters staff From a March 4 post on Twitter by Michael F. Cannon , Director of Health Care Policy Studies at the Cato Institute: The post was also listed by the Cato Institute itself:

Bart Stupak: Sidebar Bill Could Cut Abortion in Health Care, Prospect Unlikely
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Rep. Bart Stupak, the leading Pro-Life Democrat in the House, said in an interview with MSNBC today that Pro-Life Democrats are holding fast against the Senate Health Care bill. He also mentioned the possibility of a sidebar bill that could cut Abortion in Health Care but its prospects seem unlikely at best. With President Barack Obama and pro-abortion Democrats moving ahead with their Reconciliation plan to push the pro-abortion Senate...

Will Obama Renege on Fixing Senate Health Bill?
The White House may renege on passing fixes to the Senate's healthcare bill once the House has passed it, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) claimed Thursday.   Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, suggested that President Barack Obama may back off making changes to the Senate bill through the Reconciliation process, which the White House and the Senate have said they would use to make changes to the Senate bill in order to placate House members.   "They're using...

Genocide resolution draws ire
Washington - The House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly passed a nonbinding resolution yesterday that condemns the World War I-era killings of Armenians as Genocide, despite warnings by the Obama Administration that such a move would anger Turkey, a key US ally in the Middle East, and would put fragile Reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia at risk. The resolution, passed by a razor-thin margin of 23 to 22, calls on President Obama to recognize the events that led up to 1.5...

Pence Says Obamacare 2.0 is a Government Takeover of Health Care
Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, issued the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives today regarding President Obama's latest plan for a government takeover of Health Care: "From the townhalls of August to the voting booths in Massachusetts, the American people have spoken.  The American people want Health Care reform, but they don't want a government takeover of Health Care. And despite the president's latest...

Passage of Obamacare requires House members to believe Senate promises
Rich Lowry : Only the House Vote Matters This is an important point. I don't think people understand that Reconciliation isn't really that important except as a promise to members of the House. Even Charles Krauthammer, if I understood him correctly, said last night that he thinks the bill will pass the House but fail during the Reconciliation process. But if the bill passes the House, the same bill has passed the Senate and the House and Obama can just sign the thing. It won't matter if the...

Obama and Health Care: His Suicide Mission for Democrats
During the campaign there was a debate about who Barack Obama really was: a person of moderate instincts who, in order to rise up the political ladder, cast many liberal votes in his short career; or a person of deeply liberal beliefs who, during the 2008 presidential campaign, presented himself as non-ideological, pragmatic, and in some respects conservative. On Wednesday the question was answered. In doubling down on his effort to nationalize American Health Care, Obama has showed himself to...

Judd Gregg suggests Obama may renege on fixing Senate health bill
Gregg has officially gone into the Lieberman wing of people I detest. He's just straight up calling the president a liar. T he White House may renege on passing fixes to the Senate's healthcare bill once the House has passed it, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) claimed Thursday. Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, suggested that President Barack Obama may back off making changes to the Senate bill through the Reconciliation process, which the White House and the Senate have said...

The President says finish health care with an up-or-down vote - 46 Senators open to reconciliation
Yesterday, President Obama endorsed finishing Health Care reform with an up-or-down vote : …I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on Health Care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the...