Posted by
Bob Sordahl on Sunday, October 18, 2009 9:55:05 PM
Originally posted on 10/17/09 at
ConservativeCompass.com
In one of my posts a couple weeks back, I criticized the Republicans
for not having a viable alternative health care proposal. Further
research has proven me to be inaccurate in that charge. I was
convincing enough however, to have my blog post picked up by NPR
online. It's funny what those people will believe if it supports their
agenda. At any rate, while my original point was that the Republicans
haven't been widely promoting their proposals and amendments, there is
a Democratic engineered reason that they look as if they have brought
nothing to the table.
First, let's be clear: The Republicans presented HR-3400
(Empowering Patients First Act) to Congress back in July of 2009. It
was immediately sent to the House Appropriations Committee to die a
quiet death without seeing the light of day in the House. In addition,
in spite of all the President's talk about "bipartisanship", the
Democratic controlled Congress has thwarted every Republican attempt to add amendments to various health insurance bills working their way through the House and Senate.
This total freeze out of Republican input is not surprising in the
context of what Nancy Pelosi and the House did back in January of this
year, prior to President Obama's inauguration. As described by Connie
Hair in a January 5th article at HumanEvents.com :
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to
ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on
legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize
the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan
cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.
In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today
to Pelosi to object to changes to House Rules this week that would bar
Republicans from offering alternative bills, amendments to Democrat
bills or even the guarantee of open debate accessible by motions to
recommit for any piece of legislation during the entire 111th Congress.
With this backdrop of House majority thuggery, is it any wonder the
Republicans are reluctant to sign on to Democratic bills? Why should
they support any legislation they've had no input on? I can't say I
disagree.
This isn't about being obstructionist or the "Party
of no". This is just the same as Pelosi's pre-preemptive rules change
in January. It is politics, pure and simple. They are saying loud and
clear that the Dems have a majority and can pass this disaster if they
want, without bipartisan support. They are telling the Democrats to do
what is best for our Country, and if that includes passing this
legislation, they can own it, and we'll see how it all shakes out in
2012.