The New York Times, and a few senators (Chuck Schumer, most notably) have hinted that the healthcare overhaul's divisiveness to their party can be "reconciled" with an arcane Senatorial procedure known as reconciliation. This was usually invoked to prevent the minority from filibustering budget bills. This takes out the 60 vote requirement for cutting off Senate debate and thus, voting and passing bills. Since the Democrats have exactly 60 votes, they need every member to vote with them. Problem: Many red-state members of the party aren't too keen on the public plan or Canada-style healthcare. If the Democrats pass a bill under this system, they only need 50 votes (plus Biden in a 50-50 tie) to pass a socialization of one sixth of the U.S. economy.
But before you lose sleep over this, it's a long shot that this will even happen for a few reasons:
-One: The chair (who would be a democrat) would have to agree that this healthcare overhaul is a budgetary piece of legislation, which it isn't. More than likely it will end there with the parliamentarian ruling that motion out of order.
However, if the chair commits this malpractice and allows this...
-Two: Being a CSPAN geek, I've heard of a simple way for the GOP to make a point after such a motion. This takes a little bit to explain...
Every thing that happens in the Senate: motions, votes, referrals, resolutions, reading aloud the bills, etc. is done with what's called "unanimous consent". A Senator would ask unanimous consent to do _____. Usually no one says anything and the Senate's business moves along at a steady pace. However, if the Democrats try to ram through a bill like this, just one republican can de-rail the business of the Senate. He/she must object. After an objection to unanimous consent, it will force a roll call vote in which all 100 senators must come to the chamber and vote on whether to move forward. Now a roll call takes at least an hour or more.
The GOP could also force the issue by demanding that all bills be read aloud. This is customary procedure but usually after the first paragraph, a member asks unanimous consent to skip reading the bill. The GOP can object, forcing the Senate clerk to read the entire 1000+ pages aloud. This could take days, or weeks. It would get the country's attention and shine a spotlight on the reconciliation misuse.
So don't fret, either we keep fighting on the bill or we have perhaps the greatest political theater in a generation.
Hmmm, post didn't work so once again I will thank you for the great simple easy to understand explanation. Been looking for something like it for 2 days.
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