Today in Washington D. C. - Oct 15, 2009 - Rotten Sausage is Being Made in Congress

Yesterday the Senate voted 79-17 to invoke cloture on the Energy-Water appropriations conference report so today they are addressing the the conference report for the fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water appropriations bill, H.R. 3183. The bill provides $34 billion for the Energy Dept., the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Reclamation. Expected vote today on the conference report.

After the Energy-Water bill, the Senate is expected to return to the fiscal year 2010 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (H.R. 2847). Among the amendments pending to that bill is one from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) which would prevent the trial of 9/11 terror suspects in civilian courts and instead have them tried by military tribunal.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican Leader John Boehner held a joint press conference on health care reform this morning.  As detailed below, their concerns are real and it appears that America is headed for one of the biggest behind closed doors contrived tax increase on all Americans and takeover of another private sector of America.

Senate Democrats have moved health care from somewhat public markups in the Finance and HELP Committees to a conference room in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office which is closed to other elected officials and the public. Imagine one of the Senators with the most unpopular ratings in history is carrying the water on this bill - and doing so behind closed doors. Forgetting politics, one wonders what is the future payoff of Sen. Reid. Well, Senate Republicans rightly so are upset and put the Democrats on notice yesterday that they expect more transparency and debate when a bill comes to the Senate floor.

Time noted yesterday, Reid is now in charge of the process of “cobbl[ing] together” a single Senate health care reform bill. But the process will be through as The Washington Post described “private talks set to begin Wednesday in Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid's office.” Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who led the process of creating the HELP Committee bill, said at a press conference yesterday, “So there'll be four people, staff, gathering in a room -- Senator Baucus, the Leader, myself, the White House.” The New York Times went into more detail noting that Obama’s health care adviser, Nancy-Ann DeParle, “and several other officials, including Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, and Peter R. Orszag, the budget director, met Wednesday with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, to discuss merging the Senate’s bills.”

As Democrats continued to write health care reform bills among themselves, Republicans turned their attention to the upcoming floor debate. They held another press conference today and at one yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “Senate Republicans are going to insist that there be an actual bill, that there be a CBO score so we know what it costs, that it be available on the Internet for a minimum of 72 hours so the American people can react to it.” Further, Roll Call reported, Sen. McConnell “insisted that whatever bill emerges be given more floor time than the four weeks accorded a recent agriculture bill.”

Sen. McConnell said, “Senate Republicans are going to insist that this be a real Senate debate, a multi-week debate that gives everyone on both sides an opportunity to freely amend this measure and the American people an opportunity to fully understand what's in it.” Given that Democrats are pushing “highly complex effort to reorganize one-sixth of our economy,” it’s only reasonable to expect an adequate amount of time for debate and amendment.

Just last year the Senate spent 4 weeks debating the farm bill, and in recent years spent 7 weeks on No Child Left Behind and 8 weeks on an energy bill. To quote Reid concerning his behind closed doors health care bill, it is “something, as Senator Dodd said, that may come about only once in a generation.” Rightly so Republicans are demanding at least a similar time for debate and consideration of the health care bill as those bills.  However, the fact is these prior bills had a prior history; and the health care bill is a new bill which is not a makeover of a prior bill but a takeover of the health care industry.

While some people especially democrats these days are using an often modified cliché in an attempt to cover their track, it isn't working. They assert that In a democracy, making law is like making sausage. you will love the final product, but the process for making both of them will probably make you sick. Well in this situation, the process is definitely making America sick. "Making a new law" that takes away individual freedom, choice and even property through mandatory taxes is anathema. The intended final sausage - the health care bill - is already rotting. It stinks not only in the halls of Congress and Washington, D.C., but the stench has reached the heartland of America.

Wake-up America: the radicals are moving fast to socialize America and 2010 is not coming fast enough! Call your Representative and Senators and tell them to stop this insanity.

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