Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 20, 2009 - Vote To Proceed is a Vote For Reid's Health Care Bill

The Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3590, the vehicle for Democrats’ health care reform bill. The Senate will debate the health care bill all day, with time evenly divided between the majority and minority from 10 AM to 11 PM. Tomorrow, the Senate will be in session at 10 AM, and a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the health care bill has been scheduled for 8 PM.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 98-0 to pass S. 1963, a $3.7 billion veterans health care bill. Prior to passage, the Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to offset the cost by cutting contributions to some international organizations.

Also yesterday the Senate voted 59-39 to confirm Judge David Hamilton to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

As the Senate gears up for two days of debate on Democrats’ 2,074-page health care bill that features half a trillion dollars in tax increases and another half trillion in Medicare cuts, Democrats are making the case to their senators that tomorrow’s vote is simply procedural, but that’s not at all the case.

Tomorrow at 8 PM, the Senate is set to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill. Democrat leaders are telling skeptical centrist Democrats that the vote simply allows debate to move ahead and nothing more. In fact, Roll Call reports today, “A new study of Senate voting patterns shows the chamber has approved more than 97% of all bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate — a finding that could undercut Democratic efforts to paint a key health care vote on Saturday as procedural. According to a new Congressional Research Service report, since 1999 the Senate has approved 97.6 percent of all bills when lawmakers first voted to begin debate.”

Roll Call further explains, “While technically a procedural vote, the minority party has used the 60-vote threshold over the years as a way to block legislation they dislike. More significantly, these sorts of votes have figured heavily in election fights, most famously when Republicans accused Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) of flip flopping during his 2004 presidential campaign after he tried to explain how through a procedural motion he had voted for a supplemental appropriations bill before he voted against it.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) laid out the stakes in a must-read earlier in the week. Sen. DeMint wrote, “Senators who say they just want to allow for debate are trying to deceive their voters while giving President Obama the crucial votes he needs to pass a government takeover of health care. Voters should be watching and remember who stands up for their freedom and who stands with the special interests who want to ram through this takeover.”

And voters are already not pleased with the Democrats’ trillion dollar government takeover plans for health care. A new poll from respected firm Quinnipiac yesterday found that a majority disapprove of the health care bill the House passed, 51%-35%. A majority also disapproves of President Obama’s handling of health care, 53%-41%. Even more telling, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute Peter Brown says, “Independent voters disapprove 59 - 35 percent of the President's handling of health care and disapprove 57 - 29 percent of the plan itself.”  Obviously, this has to be weighing on the minds of centrist Democrat senators.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor this morning, “Americans want reform. But higher premiums, higher taxes, and cuts to Medicare to create more government isn’t reform. Yet that’s precisely what they’d get with this Democrat bill.”

If Democrat senators oppose all of that, they need to vote no on cloture on the motion to proceed. As Sen. DeMint wrote, “The simple fact is this: Any senator that votes to proceed to the Reid-Obama bill is voting for a government takeover of health care.”

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