LifeSiteNews.com Life, Family and Culture News

Email: "Brown Win Leaves Dems Desperate, Scrambling To Salvage Health Care Bill"

Your Email:

Your Name:

Send To Email:

Subject:

Message:
Obama Offers Scaled-Back Version of Bill BY LifeSiteNews.com By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., January 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Capitol Hill attempts to overcome the shock over Republican U.S. Senator-elect from Massachusetts Scott Brown's earth-shattering victory last night, the upset appears to have left supporters of President Obama's health care bill with few options to save the massive overhaul from defeat. In his acceptance speech Tuesday night, Brown confirmed a primary theme of his campaign: that he would cast a critical 41st vote against the health care bill, leaving Democrats unable to surmount a Republican filibuster to destroy the measure.  Brown defeated Democrat opponent Martha Coakley 52%-47% to overtake the seat held by Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy for nearly 47 years. “One thing is very, very clear as I traveled across this state. People do not want the trillion dollar health care plan that is being forced on the American people, and this bill is not being debated openly and fairly," said Brown to cheering crowds.  "It will raise taxes, it will hurt Medicare, it will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper in to debt. “The independent majority has delivered a great victory." Many experts project that the Brown win will have catastrophic consequences for the health care overhaul, although Democrats are floating a few options.  One of the most talked-about ideas has been to convince the House to pass the whole Senate bill unamended, thus allowing the bill to avoid a second Senate vote.Leaders would then attempt to accommodate House Democrats' interests in health care reform with a follow-up, separate budget bill, which would dodge the filibuster by requiring only 51 Senate votes through a process known as reconciliation.  It is unclear, however, how central House Democrat demands for health care reform - such as a more comprehensive public insurance option - could be resolved in a bill restricted purely to federal budget issues. Several majority lawmakers, including Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), emphasized in statements Tuesday night that the party would not attempt to ram the bill through before Brown was seated, allaying fears that Democrats might try to take advantage of a paperwork delay.   Like several of his House colleagues, Rep. Frank also indicated that he did not favor the reconciliation tactic - suggesting leadership should instead aim to pass a stripped-down health reform bill with bipartisan support. "I am hopeful that some Republican senators will be willing to discuss a revised version of healthcare reform because I do not think that the country would be well-served by the healthcare status quo," said Frank in a statement Tuesday night.  Frank is considered one of the most liberal members of the House majority party. Sen. Russ Feingold appeared to agree with Frank, telling a Milwaukee reporter that "it's probably back to the drawing board on health care" thanks to the Massachusetts election results. President Obama and his allies in Congress produced a scaled-back version of the health care bill late Wednesday, hoping that a less ambitious bill could salvage the president's signature domestic agenda. Top Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House's David Axelrod still expressed confidence in the bill's ultimate passage, yet others indicated that Democrats simply lack a solution to the health care conundrum created by Brown's victory.  “We decided we needed to reflect on this more before we made any decision,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), according to the Hill.  Durbin said leaders have not set a timeline for such a decision. While Scott Brown is moderately pro-abortion, his victory was widely accepted by pro-life leaders as a victory for the right to life movement because of his promise to take down the health care bill, which would be the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade if passed into law.  Brown has said he specifically opposes the Senate bill's federal abortion funding. "The election of Scott Brown is no accident. This election is about more than parties or candidates," said Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement.  "The election is just one more sign of the overreach of the President and Congress.  The American people have spoken tonight.  "Scott Brown’s success is a win for the majority of American women who demand authentic representation that reflects commonsense pro-life views, like abortion funding restrictions and conscience protections." Republican leaders hailed Brown's win as validating their conviction that American voters are strongly against the health care overhaul, which has been widely criticized as a vastly expensive expansion of government and the possible first step to socialized medicine. "There's no way you can spin [a Brown victory] as not a referendum on health care - as well as other issues, but clearly on health care," said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) before the results were in.   Sen. Jim DeMint defended his statement earlier this year that taking down the health care bill, the capstone of a presidential agenda he called "out of control," would be President Obama's "Waterloo." “I just want this rampage toward spending and debt and government takeovers to slow down and let us work together," said DeMint.   “If the president and the Democrats don’t get the message from Massachusetts, it will be their Waterloo." http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/brown-win-leaves-dems-desperate-scrambling-to-salvage-health-care-bill/

Please enter the word you see in the image below: