A “Dodgy” Way to Pass a Law

America’s ruling Democratic party is involved in a desperate rush to get a Health Care Reform bill through Congress.
Earlier this week one of America’s leading newspapers described the process that the Speaker of the House is planning to utilize as “dodgy.”

The process involves the House of Representatives passing a very lengthy amendment to a version of the controversial Health Care Reform Bill passed by the US Senate at the end of December 2009. Normally when two differing versions of a bill are passed in the upper and lower houses of Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives) a reconciliation bill is then passed in both houses. In this case Democrats have lost a crucial seat in the Senate and as a result they do not have a big enough majority to overrule a delaying tactic known as a filibuster. The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has come up with a plan; on Sunday March 21st Congress will vote on a reconciliation bill that was only released to the public on Thursday March 18th. In voting for that reconciliation bill Democratic party leaders say Congress will have been “deemed” to have passed the Senate bill without actually voting on it. The Washington Post points out that all of this is “contrary to Democrats’ promises of transparency and time for deliberation.”

Meanwhile President Obama has been jetting around the country attempting to drum up support from the fiscally conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats. Some “Blue Dogs” also lean towards a conservative “pro-life” position on abortion and are concerned that the Senate version of the health care bill does not guarantee that federal money will not end up being used to pay for abortions. The vote could be tight and Obama is so concerned that he surprised the White House Press Corps on Thursday by canceling a planned visit to Indonesia in order to address Democrats ahead of Sunday’s vote.

The Washington Post are not alone in expressing concern, a huge groundswell of Republicans and others including doctors organizations continue to oppose the bill. Conservative Christian leader James Dobson went so far as to tell radio listeners on Tuesday that Obama and Pelosi were lying about the provisions in the bill. Dobson says if the bill passes, “it will result in federal money being used in support of abortion.” He encouraged listeners to call their congressional representatives before the Sunday vote. Dobson also expressed concern that the Health Care Bill would result in rationing of medical services and in bureaucratic decisions about who will and who won’t get care.

The Health Care Bill would dramatically increase the number of Americans eligible for federally funded medical programs and would require most other uninsured Americans to purchase insurance or face a tax penalty.