House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to release the text of the Democratic health care proposal tomorrow, with the hope of bringing it to the floor as early as next Friday. Pelosi will claim that the Congressional Budget Office has scored the Democratic bill as deficit neutral over the next ten years.I don't think enough of them will to pass the thing. They're all going to be a bit skittish about re-election, and should Democrats take a beating in the elections on Tuesday, look for lots of Democrats to head for the tall grass on Obamacare.
Of course, there's no guarantee the text Pelosi unveils tomorrow won't be replaced at the last minute on the floor by a manager's amendment that will change various provisions and, conveniently, won't have been fully scored by the CBO--as happened with cap and trade. But leave this quibble aside.
Here's the key fact: The bill will be (allegedly) deficit neutral because of hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts. If it passes, these will be the largest cuts in Medicare ever. Is the Democratic Party as a whole willing to go into the 2010 election as the party that slashed Medicare? Are individual Democratic members?
Pelosi will whisper to her members not to worry, they can rescind the cuts next year. But then of course the legislation will be a deficit buster. And even if the Democratic Congress does rescind the cuts, that will just allow Republicans to run ads criticizing Democrats for cutting Medicare and busting the budget. And, one might add (as Republicans will), raising taxes and hiking premiums.
One more thing: Speaker Pelosi is once again--as on cap and trade--asking her members to walk the plank, absent any evidence there are the votes in the Senate to pass comparable legislation. In fact, the reason Pelosi is pulling the trigger now is that Reid failed in his effort to get the Senate up to the starting gate first (that was the point of last week's attempted "doc fix").
So, the question is: Will her caucus follow Nancy off a cliff?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Is Nancy Pelosi Leading the Dems Off a Cliff?
Bill Kristol wonders:
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4 comments:
I don't know what kind of drugs Pelosi is taking, but her Ego is too big to care about leading her Democrat partners over the cliff.
Oooooooohhhhhhhh. I HOPE so.
Nancy you cannot abrogate the will of the people and expect there to be no consequences.
You are so arrogant you are pitiful..
We will vote you out of office. When you lose your power you will melt like ice cream in the summer sun, because you are not a person of substance.
We will celebrate your political demise like the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Your days are numbered Nancy. You can't deny the will of the people and expect there to be no consequences.
You are so arrogant, you are pitiful.
We will vote you out in the coming elections. Once you can't throw your weight around you will dissolve like an ice cream on a summer day, because you are not a person of substance.
People will celebrate your fall like the coming down of the Berlin Wall. At last release from oppressive, mindless government.
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