Confirmed: McConnell to Object to Conferees

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

There's been speculation today that at least one Senate Republican will attempt to derail a health care conference by objecting to the appointment of conferees. Such a move could prevent Democrats from convening a conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate health care bills, and force them to adopt the 'ping pong' strategy. I have confirmed with a Senate Republican leadership source that GOP Leader Mitch McConnell will in fact, object to the appointment of conferees if Democrats attempt it.


According to this source, it is believed that Harry Reid now expects an objection to the move to appoint conferees, and may not even attempt it. If he does, it will be to have one more opportunity to accuse Republicans of 'obstruction.' The objection will not eliminate the possibility of a conference; Democrats can resort to a fallback. They can propose a motion to appoint conferees, which is subject to filibuster. It would likely require 3 separate cloture votes to pass the motion to appoint conferees.


Thus, if Democrats are willing to spend roughly a week waiting to appoint conferees, they can do so. Otherwise, they will forego a conference and instead resort to ping pong: the House will be forced either to ratify the Senate bill as is, or amend it and send it to the Senate to be approved with changes.


Preventing a conference committee likely makes it harder for Democrats to address the bones of contention between the two bills: abortion, the public option, taxation of union health care plans, and the degree of subsidy available for purchase of health care. If the Senate bill is unacceptable to the House, leaders will be forced to open the bill to amendment - but not in a way that threatens 'settled' portions of the package.


This adds an unwelcome level of complexity as Democrats hope to preserve skin-of-the-teeth majorities in both House and Senate.

http://theconservatives.com/personal-liberty/2009/12/21/confirmed-mcconnell-will-object-to-appointment-of-conferees.html

Now THIS would be fun to watch.

 

[thundley4]

Republicans should do everything they can to derail this bill, even if the DimRats keep calling them obstructionists.  Almost every poll shows that the majority of Americans do NOT want this bill to pass.

[littlelamb]

I don't think they care what we want they are going to push it down our necks

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I don't think they care what we want they are going to push it down our necks

But there's the rub: they can't even agree among themselves WHAT they want to push.

This monstrosity passed the House by 2 votes, 1 of which is a duly chastised republican and Stupak is furious over Nelson's betrayal over abortion in the senate (the senate version actually collects fees for providing abortions).

Nelson himself is reeling as protests in NE are already heating up and the senate version could fracture in a thousand places.

The versions passed were the only versions that could pass in their respective chambers. This is forcing them back into their chambers to be fought over again rather than being blended in conference.