The GOP have managed to toss a very small monkey wrench into the gears of health care reform.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the bill making changes in President Obama’s newly enacted health care overhaul will have to go back to the House for final congressional approval, something top Democrats were trying to avoid.
Spokesman Jim Manley said Republicans consulting with the Senate parliamentarian had found "two minor provisions" that violate budget rules. The two provisions, dealing with Pell grants for low-income college students, will have to be removed from the bill.
Once those provisions are deleted and the Senate passes the measure, the House will have to approve the legislation before sending it to Obama for his signature. Manley said he was confident the House would do so with no problems.
Kate Cyrul, spokesperson for one of the Senate committees instrumental in crafting the health care legislation, said in a statement that members were "confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes."
"The Parliamentarian struck two minor provisions tonight from the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, but this bill’s passage in the Senate is still a big win for the American people," said Cyrul.
The Senate adjourned early Thursday morning before a final vote on the reconciliation bill. According to the chamber’s schedule, debate was to resume at 9:45 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, with a vote expected at about 2 p.m… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <CBS>
The bill will pass today and return to the House, where it will pass again, probably tomorrow. I expect some drama from the GOP, but it will not last. Tomorrow, Congress is scheduled to adjourn for their two week Easter recess. Even though the GOP says HCR will bring the world as we know it to an end, that is not sufficient cause for them to lose vacation time.
So where is this great GOP victory? In the process, they have prevented a few poor kids from getting Pell grants, and for the GOP spending money to educate the poor is anathema. Every penny spent educating a poor student is a penny the GOP can’t spend on a millionaire.
Every Republican in office is one Republican too many!
20 Responses to “A Great Victory for the GOP”
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Just passing by to say hi Tom. You’re okay? And thanks for helping me build my mansion
Hi Monique. I’m fine, and you’re most welcome. 🙂
Can’t the kids get a break – what assholes!
Not if the GOP can stop it.
Here! Here! (or is it Hear?)
Although frequently misused, the correct form is Hear! Hear! It’s short for Hear him! Hear him! Thanks.
I hope your probability proves out! You never know what those asshole Republicans are up to…eh?
Good post TC.
Thanks Gwen. The changes are not such that they would cause any controversy. I would hope that some of the cowardly DINO contingent might take this opportunity to jump on the bandwagon.
True to form, the conservative Republicans have just acted against the poor and against education.Their “No Millionaire Left Behind” approach to government merely leaves the needy and everybody else behind.
I see you like my ‘No Millionaire Left Behind’, Jack. The operative commandment in the struggle to keep our nation safe from the GOP is ‘Thou shalt steal!’ 🙂
The two provisions, dealing with Pell grants for low-income college students, will have to be removed from the bill.
That is just sickening, no one with any honor or basic humanity would pull such a stunt.
Beach, I’m afraid that the lest vestiges of honor and basic humanity were expunged from the GOP during the Bush Regime.
Excellent post. All the “happenings” are changing almost daily now. I’m still pissed over the threats and wingnuts on the loose from the right.
Marie, I have plenty of coverage of that a little lower. 🙂
If they can slow down passage by one fraction of a second, they will. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst of them, they go and prove you wrong.
Holte, you said a mouthful. So true!
They will stop at nothing and they are convinced they have the support of the people. In just a few months they will be in for a surprise indeed. Great post as always Tom.
Mike, I think you’re right, but for that to happen, we need to cut through the forest of GOP Lies.
Oh there has been drama all right.
Telephone and email threats, mysterious white powder sent to one Democrat Senator, another told
“I’ll be glad when you’re dead.”
This seems to a have criminality extended to nearly CIA proportions.
And the criminals seem to be some Republicans.
Ivan, I completely agree.