We Are No Longer a Nation of Laws. Senate Sets Up Requirement for Super-Majority

[thundley4]

The Senate Democrats declare a super-majority of senators will be needed to overrule any regulation imposed by the Death Panels
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Monday, December 21st at 10:15PM EST
94 Comments
If ever the people of the United States rise up and fight over passage of Obamacare, Harry Reid must be remembered as the man who sacrificed the dignity of his office for a few pieces of silver. The rules of fair play that have kept the basic integrity of the Republic alive have died with Harry Reid. Reid has slipped in a provision into the health care legislation prohibiting future Congresses from changing any regulations imposed on Americans by the Independent Medicare [note: originally referred to as "medical"] Advisory Boards, which are commonly called the “Death Panels.”

It was Reid leading the Democrats who ignored 200 years of Senate precedents to rule that Senator Sanders could withdraw his amendment while it was being read.

It was Reid leading the Democrats who has determined again and again over the past few days that hundreds of years of accumulated Senate parliamentary rulings have no bearing on the health care vote.

On December 21, 2009, however, Harry Reid sold out the Republic in toto.

Upon examination of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment to the health care legislation, Senators discovered section 3403. That section changes the rules of the United States Senate.

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.

Redstate

It seems like Harry Reid is sure that Dems are going to be ousted and wants to entrench this POS healthcare in our lives.

[Oceander]

That might be a fascinating little wedge into blowing this b.s. up.  If Reid intends to change the Senate's Rules to require a super-majority to overturn deathpanel regulations, then he's going to have to have 67 votes to change those rules; since he's only going to have at most 60 votes to enact Obamadeathcare, then that part of the bill will be invalid, which opens up the question of whether or not it's appropriate to invalidate the entire bill, or to simply blue-pencil that particular provision.  The same applies to the attempt to subvert the rules of the House of Representatives.


Regardless, it does demonstrate, beyond peradventure, that the Democrats' sole aim here is to effect a de-facto seizure of power - a Hugo Chavez style coup - not to "reform" healthcare.

[BlueStateSaint]

One thing I saw pointed out in the thread on RedState that this came from--any new Congress can just change the "supermajority" back to 60 votes, thus nullifying the whole provision.  With all of the unprecedented actions in the debate of this bill, we may just see that, in order to attempt to restore some balance to the outcome.

[TheSarge]

It was Reid leading the Democrats who ignored 200 years of Senate precedents to rule that Senator Sanders could withdraw his amendment while it was being read.

It was Reid leading the Democrats who has determined again and again over the past few days that hundreds of years of accumulated Senate parliamentary rulings have no bearing on the health care vote.

On December 21, 2009, however, Harry Reid sold out the Republic in toto.

It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!

[bkg]

it's almost as if this bill isn't even about healthcare...

won't be read by anyone who votes for it anyway... and any truth given to the general public, even if just quotes from the bill, will be called a lie.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It's legally meaningless, even if it survives conference.  Even taking it at face value, which nobody should, a later Congress would only have to amend and rescind that one section itself by a simple majority to wipe it out, and then proceed to change anything they felt like.

[TheSarge]

it's almost as if this bill isn't even about healthcare...

won't be read by anyone who votes for it anyway... and any truth siabersed to the general public, even if just quotes from the bill, will be called a lie.

I know you put the sarcasm on the end of what you said.

But in all actuality you're spot on.  This has never been about reforming the healthcare industry.

[GOP Congress]

He's absolutely right. In fact, I am actually going to propose we rename this bill for what it is...

The American Socialist Act of 2009.

[RightCoast]

This whole mess is truly frightening. That these fools would throw away their last limited vestige of respectability and tradition to pass their garbage. Our only hope is the Sheeple will awaken.

[Oceander]

It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!

Absolutely spot on!

From the Starwars Wikia:

The office [of Chancellor] became much more powerful during the term of Chancellor Palpatine, who was able to convince the Senate to grant him a range of "emergency" powers due to the Separatist Crisis and then the Clone Wars, including an unconstitutional extension of his term of office after 24 BBY for the duration of the Separatist Crisis and authority as Commander-in-Chief of their new military during the Clone Wars. The Chancellor was given more direct power over administrative concerns, and he was allowed to overrule local planetary and sectorial governments. The Sector Governance Decree allowed him to appoint military governors to every planet in the Republic, and the Security Act gave him complete control over the Jedi Order and Republic military, stripping both the Jedi and the Senate of their previous oversight.

Eventually, Palpatine became a dictator and proclaimed himself Emperor of the galaxy, thus abolishing the office of Chancellor and transforming the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. The position was not revived by the New Republic, which chose instead to call its chief executive the Chief of State. Although the office of Chancellor had existed as a symbol of good for thousands of years since the dawn of the Galactic Republic, Palpatine's thirteen years in the Chancellorship, added to his reign as Galactic Emperor, forever tainted the once noble and prestigious position to the point where it was far too controversial to be revived in the New Republic.

Replace Chancellor with President and Palpatine with Obama, and you get a very, very scary, frighteningly accurate portrayal of today:

The office [of President] became much more powerful during the term of President Obama, who was able to convince the Senate to grant him a range of "emergency" powers due to the Economic Crisis and then the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, including an unconstitutional extension of his term of office after 2016 for the duration of the Economic Crisis and authority as Commander-in-Chief of their new military during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. The President was given more direct power over administrative concerns, and he was allowed to overrule local and state governments. The State Governance Decree allowed him to appoint military governors to every state in the Republic, and the Security Act gave him complete control over the military, stripping both the House and the Senate of their previous oversight.

Eventually, Obama became a dictator and proclaimed himself Emperor of North America, thus abolishing the office of President and transforming the United States of America into the North American Empire. The position was not revived by the New United States, which chose instead to call its chief executive the Chief of State. Although the office of President had existed as a symbol of good for hundreds of years since the dawn of the United States, Obama's thirteen years in the Whitehouse, added to his reign as North American Emperor, forever tainted the once noble and prestigious position to the point where it was far too controversial to be revived in the New United States.

Read it and weep, for that is what Reid, Pelosi and the crypto-communists behind Obama desperately wish to create.

[Carl]

This whole mess is truly frightening. That these fools would throw away their last limited vestige of respectability and tradition to pass their garbage. Our only hope is the Sheeple will awaken.

It is their last and only chance and they know it.

What is more frightening to me is what is coming down the pike in the next 11 months.

[Oceander]

It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!