Senator Harry Reid’s Hide and Seek ObamaCare Bill
by Brian DarlingOn Saturday, I reported that all 40 Republican Senators signed a letter demanding to see the health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) claimed he sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Yesterday, Reid circulated a Dear Colleague letter in response – thanks to Christina Bellantoni of TMPDC for publishing the letter. Reid claimed in the letter that he does not have a bill, notwithstanding the fact he had a press conference a week ago to announce a deal.
Last Monday, Roll Call reported that “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to announce on Monday afternoon that negotiations on the Senate’s final health care reform bill have concluded and that he is sending the measure to the Congressional Budget Office, according to Democratic sources.” At the press conference, Reid said “today’s development, my sending of, in the next few hours, to CBO a – number of – anyways the proposal we are sending them for their scoring will make us a step closer to achieving a bill this year.” Specifically, Reid asserted that he is going to include a public option with an opt out provision in the bill, then at the 1:24 mark of the video linked above said that the public option would be “included in the bill we submitted, that will be submitted to the Senate.” Sounds like Reid announced a deal on a bill, yet in the letter Reid backed away and stated that his bill “does not exist.”
News reporters and TPMDC also seemed to get the impression that the announcement by Reid last Monday was more than a press availability to discuss the progress on Obamacare:
- AP – “Reid says he has blended two versions in a measure that includes a government-run ‘public option’ to compete with private health insurance plans.” Reid now says that he is “now working” to “meld them together into a single bill.”
- NYT – “Mr. Reid has now submitted several components of the developing Senate health care bill to the Congressional Budget Office for cost analysis. It will likely take several days for the nonpartisan budget office to provide results, and only after that will Mr. Reid decide whether it’s time to push for the first vote.” It has been over week and Reid now claims that “no final decisions have been made.”
- TMPDC – “In the next several hours, Reid will send the CBO a draft bill with alternative provisions on certain issues, to get a range of cost estimates on the plan he’ll bring to the floor.” Reid now claims that “there is no bill to release publicly.”
Reid wrote “as you also know, we are now working to take these publicly-available provisions (two committee passed Obamacare bills) and meld them together into a single bill. Apart from my decision to include a public option from which states may opt out, no final decisions have been made – and none can be made until we get more information about how CBO would score different combinations. In other words, there is no bill to release publicly – it does not exist.” Is this a commitment from Senator Reid that he will not add any new language to the bill? Reid’s announced version of the public option with the states having the power to op out of the program was not in either of the bills that passed Senate committees, yet he seems to have made a commitment to stick to the parameters of two Senate committees. He also had seemed to announce a deal last Monday, so we need to take Senator Reid’s assertions with a grain of salt.
The games Senator Ried has played with this Obamacare bill is a high risk game of Hide and Seek. Reid may have a bill written and read to go, yet he continues to hide the details of his bill from the American people. It is too bad Senator Reid is not willing to publish the actual legislation online so the American people can read the bill.
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61 Comments
I sure hope the voters of Nevada vote this flim-flam man from the Senate. What an utter disgrace he is.
It just goes to show how disconnected from reality these people really are.I watch TV and read the news and I see a regular horror show going on.How these people can't see the destruction that they're responsible for is beyond me.Well,they know exactly what they're doing.
They call themselves progressives which is just a term for socialists,faschists,Marxists and communists.People in this country gave them the power and they're going to wield it until they're thrown out.They've caused a lot of damage to this country to date and will do a lot more in the next year.
They're career politicians,incumbants who could care less about the people who voted for them.Legistating for special interest has been going on in this country for decades in both parties.Although the the level of evil coming from Obama and the democrats is amazing.I've been watching this country spiral down for a long time but now finally I hope we hit bottom and are ready to head back up.
"The games Senator Ried has played with this Obamacare bill is a high risk game of Hide and Seek. Reid may have a bill written and read to go, yet he continues to hide the details of his bill from the American people. It is too bad Senator Reid is not willing to publish the actual legislation online so the American people can read the bill."
He is a proven liar, so what is the compelling reason for one believe anything he says? Harry knows exactly what we know… regardless of whether a bill is written or not Harry is stuck between his crazy commie far left wing of his party and we the people who will not let him get away with what he's trying to pull off here. He literally is a man with no country or home…
Nonetheless, he has power and is still very dangerous to our Republic. Please speak, fax, write, and e-mail your representatives on this matter. Now that they've brought the fight it's time drop what you're doing and stand up for freedom.
Speaking of hide and seek: Spot the Photo Differences (Obamacare version): http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/11/spot-six-phot... (reposting)
So is it vapor, or smoke and mirrors?
The American public… at this point no longer trusts either him or the Congress, and really does not want to see any bill from Reid. So does it even matter right now?
I am begining to think this healtcare bill is covering for the cap an tax an other bills being pushed in the back door.
For no reason I checked Mark 1:24 (Douay Rheims).
.
"Saying: What have we [unclean spirit] to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God."
[...] он вот что – а нету у меня никакого законопроекта. Так, варианты [...]
All politics aside, this type of behavoir from a "so called" leader in the US Senate is an outright DISGRACE. GO HOME REID
Obamacare is the most disgraceful and blatant abuse of government power in our lifetimes. We are witnessing the construction of a trojan horse which will be used to conceal a Socialist coup.
Wow! Quite telling. Only God can rid us of these demons.
Vote them ALL out in 2010 and 2012. No incumbants, no way! They don't listen to us anyway, so they are fired, period!
You hit the nail on the head! Exactly what this bill is doing, thats why they are desperate to pass it. They want the money now even if the healthcare will not be a viable option till 2015.
The liberal school of thought can be summed up like this…
"All that matters is what you say that can be picked up for a sound bite to move your agenda forward, the hell with actions, facts, research, or tangible meaningful results."
Go back at ANY time in history and look at a liberal program and what is was SUPPOSED to accomplish, and compare it to its actual results. "War on Poverty" Please… Medicare? Welfare? Pick one…
Harry Ratb@stard is just proving my point.
All that matters to him is that he SAID he had a bill, and it got REPEATED on all the media – Therefore TRUTH!
Hmmm… Cap and Tax is a pretty darn close second…
As I responded to Arie above, thats why they are so desperate to pass it this year before Ofumble signs the treaty on Dec. 7th relinquishing our sovereignty, our economy and our liberty to the "oh unholy UN". This has to be stopped.
Both.
Clearly it is Both.
Now the real question is does the voting public have the courage of their conviction to actually go out and do what it takes to fix this.
VOTE, write letters, run of local office, etc. JUST DO IT! Just do SOMETHING about it.
He is in danger in 2010 for sure.
I know Nevada has a process for removing a sitting Senator. An even better message would be to remove him NOW instead of waiting until November.
I dus not kno whut u b so hot and botherd bout….u kno he b man wit da plan….he b harry reid…the dems stampede, i kno he s my man, and I b lokkin for his shor nugh help with my babys bills, i need dipers, botles, formla, shues…yu kno that stuf yuall hav and me don't
god save ….the tenth amendment.
I no longer trust any of these son of a bitches and their rhetoric. It's time to put down the Toilet seat and FLUSH all of these, too many career, politcians down the drain!
What a great idea! I doubt Nevandans are angry enough to push him out early, but hopefully he'll go soon enough… and too, I hope more scrutiny is paid to his sweetheart deals within the state. Lots of apparent graft evidently…. I know… a powerful Democrat Senator… same old same old.. go figure.
The way I see it any attempt to circumvent or subvert the will of the people should carry the charge of treason. As a representative government any elected official who votes or seeks to introduce legislation contrary to the opinions of the majority of the voters in their district is guilty of a crime. They were not elected to determine or presume to know the will of the people. The audacity to introduce such sweeping legislation and then seek to circumvent the opinion of the citizenry is insulting and affront to the spirit of freedom embodied in our constitution.
If these representatives no longer have the trust of the people they were elected to represent they need to be removed from office. We do not the have the luxury of tolerating fools to make decisions on our behalf or legislate for the common good.
I picked this up from another site.Great comment,,,,,,,,,,,
“So, let me make sure I get this correct…We're going to pass a health care plan written by a committee, whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a president that also hasn't read it, and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke.
What possibly could go wrong?”
The American people have the right to know what is in the bill. Thanks for the comments.
ludicrous.
2010 can't come fast enough
DUH …. I had a bill before I didn't have a bill. Which I wanted you to see, before I didn't want you to see. Which you will have to pay for, without seeing, before I let you see it.
There's so many closed door deals going on with our politicians, it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn there is a bill all ready waiting in the wings for a bait and switch.
Every notice how Harry Reid and nacy pelosi are always pissed off! Harry Reid is dangerous! he's corrupt, stupid and worst of all he's completely self centered. He could care less about his constictuants and they needs. He'll do whatever for campaign bribes! He'd be better addressed as Harry me first Reid than as Senator! The guy is a joke as afr as being a statesman, a Senator or a public representative. He's a priem example of the corrupt American Politian. He either taking money as bribes or he know s about who is and does nothing about it because it might upset his boat. his free ride on the public dime. Citizens of Nevada, Please vote this jackass out of office as fast as possible. In fact why not start right now demanding investigations into he land deals that keep coming up smelling of roses when he invested SH*&& or nothing. Then you could look at his campaign financing. He sure does collect a lot from people he sends earmarks to doesn't he? Read the record. Where there is smoke there is fre and he needs to be put in jail! Wale Up America! Hey maybe he could get ajoining cells with Pelosi. after all she promised to clean up the corruption. What better place to start then with herself!
Las Vegas is one of the hardest hit places in this recession. I think they are pretty angry.
He's not writing anything, Harry will try to pass the house version with 51 votes. The Dems know that if they don't get this done soon they will be in election mode for 2010 and it won't get done. So, the house will pass ANYTHING and Harry will jamb it through the Senate, get it to BO desk and we are all officially screwed.
Our only hope is to VOTE ALL the bumbs out with the first order of buisness to repeal what ever they vote in.
Anecdotal evidence, but I have some distant relatives that live down there that I know have been very liberal in the past. They are now listening to Glen Beck — which surprised me.
I wonder what it would take to get something like this circulating.
Harry Reid is a POS.
We need some Intellgent blogger here (Like Cowboy Logic) to creat a "WALL OF SHAME" listing of all the turncoat congressmen and women such as Rangle, Dodd, Frank, Waters, Reid, Pelosi et al and circulate it through out America.. Thes people forget that they govern with "THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED."……… Not against the Governed, this is tyranny…….
Why do you think he is concealing it ? He and his Czars are DOING it under our noses in our FACES !!!!! Only Glen Beck is revealing all the Rats in the closet…… If you don't watch you are uninformed….. NO other network is reporting this truth………..Watch and see the Real Truth……… Then decide…….
Let's look into "RE CALL" Petitions. They recalled Gov. in California and removed him from office.. Does anyone have any info on recalling politicians in each State??????????
SCARY Reid always looks so hateful in all of his pictures.
BIG BIG BIG ONE!
A no good, rascally, dirty, low-dow, lying POS.
GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann has put out a call for a march on Washington DC at noon this Thursday to stop the government health care takeover.
Meet her on the steps of the Capitol.
More from Tea Party Patriots.
A little flashback to get you motivated:
***
Obamacare protest posters: Print and bring!
***
The SEIU is targeting moderate Democrats over health care. What are you doing to combat the Purple Shirts?
Reid is a liar as usual
He's lower than whale crap…an it lays right on the bottom of the ocean
Excellent! Thanks for posting that–that just about says it all!
I can't wait until Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are OUT! If their constituents vote them in again, they truly need their heads examined! I cannot describe how thoroughly sick and tired I am of these people and their evil machinations.
Today, the centrist lobbying powerhouse for the elderly, the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), is scheduled to endorse the House health care bill despite its possibly flawed public option. Still, the House bill is winning high marks from a growing number of influential progressives for helping make health care more affordable. Indeed, a final vote on the House bill could take place as soon as this weekend.
At the same time, the AFL-CIO is coming out swinging with a tough series of newspaper ads criticizing the Senate bill's 40% excise taxes on insurers offering high cost plans. That's a provision likely to add significantly to middle-class families' costs through higher taxes or outlays, according to unions and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
As I reported in In These Times,labor unions, joined with other progressive organizations like Health Care for America Now, are pushing to strengthen the legislation when the bills come to floor votes, and they're also focusing their efforts on ensuring that midde-class families and union members aren't slammed by a whopping 40% tax on insurers offering so-called Cadillac plans.
That's what the Senate bill does, in essence, by passing along the costs to workers, while the House version seeks to impose a surtax on America's wealthiest families, the top 0.3%: taxing a portion of $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for couples. Already, Republicans are gearing up anti-tax rhetoric that could spook moderate Senate Democrats facing re-election.
"The biggest gulf between the House and Senate versions are the financing pieces: how to pay for it," observes Alan Charney, the program director of USAction, the lead grassroots organization in the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) coalition, with its 1,000 local and national groups, including labor organizations.
So two extremely influential groups are adding their voices to the support building for the House plan. The main supporters of the Senate taxation plan include the President's economic advisers and some influential Washington bloggers on health care, including the Washington Post's Ezra Klein. But the respected liberal Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson also added his support for the House measure on Wednesday, observing the fine print and sweeping changes in the legislation that make the House bill more affordable for working families.
He points out:
The health-care reform bills emerging from the House and Senate, when melded and enacted, will constitute an epochal achievement: the near-universal provision of medical care to the American people. But the House version is clearly the more epochal, as the health coverage it provides is more universal, chiefly because it's more affordable.
For families who buy their insurance on the exchanges that both bills establish, for instance, the House bill includes more generous subsidies — on average, $1,000 more, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The House bill also offers a lot more assistance to Medicare recipients by reducing the cost of their prescriptions. While the bill that emerged from the Senate Finance Committee renews the Bush administration's mega-bucks gift to the drug companies by continuing to prohibit Medicare from negotiating drug prices with them, the House bill authorizes those negotiations…
The House bill is not only better public policy than the Senate's, it is also better Democratic politics. Seniors always constitute a disproportionate share of midterm electorates, and Democrats concerned about next year's congressional contests would do themselves a major favor by passing a bill that reduced the costs of seniors' medications.
One lesson from Tuesday's election is that candidates who spurned the President and health care reform, as in Virginia, dampened turnout among the Democratic base. Governor Corzine, although he lost, did better than expected despite his low approval ratings and allegations swirling around his administration. And the eloquent The Hill columnist Brent Budowsky wrote in a column, "Come Home, Mr. President":
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/aarp-afl...
It is time to take out the trash — send Reid a pink slip. Don't believe the fictitious cost. Our politicians serve
special interests not "we the people". Tell the Pres. "stop" we need to fix the economy before he turns the USA into a third world country.
[...] It’s been six weeks since Reid announced a similar breakthrough, only to admit later that he didn’t have an actual bill, so maybe some people will again believe that we’re approaching the beginning of the [...]
[...] It’s been six weeks since Reid announced a similar breakthrough, only to admit later that he didn’t have an actual bill, so maybe some people will again believe that we’re approaching the beginning of the [...]
[...] It’s been six weeks since Reid announced a similar breakthrough, only to admit later that he didn’t have an actual bill, so maybe some people will again believe that we’re approaching the beginning of the [...]
Liars, liars, liars. Pseudo health reform now, next year – amnesty adding about 30 million illegals to our bankrupted programs…..
When willt he people see the truth and vote them out of the office?????
Guess we're screwed…time to move to a country that has NO government intervention period!!!!!!
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