by Phil Kerpen, Americans for Prosperity

Advertiser 4-29-09 "Reconciliation should remain a last resort"

WSJ UPDATE -- White House: Reconciliation An Insurance Policy On Reform

National Review -- Ryan: Dems Will Rush Through Health Care

You may have already seen the media reports that the budget is a done deal, and health care reconciliation is included. They are wrong.  It is not yet a done deal, and we need you to ACT TODAY to stop it.  Democratic leadership has agreed, but the actual conference report is not written by leadership, but by the specific conferees on the conference committee:

Senate

Kent Conrad (D-N. Dak.)
Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)

House

John Spratt (D-S.C.)
Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
Allen Boyd (D-Fla.)
Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas)

If your senator or representative is on the committee, it is imperative that you send them a message today urging them to keep health care out of reconciliation.  They are meeting THIS AFTERNOON, so time is of the essence.  By far the most important two are Kent Conrad and Allen Boyd, Democrats who have been skeptical about using reconciliation. 

If you know anyone in North Dakota or Florida's second district (Tallahassee, Panama City) please forward them this urgent email immediately!

Reconciliation is a trick, a procedure designed for deficit reduction being misused to jam through a government takeover of health care with only 20 hours of debate, no amendments, and just 50 votes instead of the usual 60.  This trick will silence Republicans and centrist Democrats, and allow a radical leftist plan in which government takes away control of health care from patients and doctors, and rations care by denying it to people judged by bureaucrats to be too old or too sick to justify the cost.  For more explanation, listen to my podcast on this: http://kerpen.hipcast.com/rss/kerpencast.xml

Please click here to send a message to your senator OPPOSING HEALTH CARE RECONCILIATION.

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UPDATE: Advertiser 4-29-09 "Reconciliation should remain a last resort"

Congressional Democrats expect to adopt an expedited procedure known as "reconciliation" in the budget blueprint it will vote on today.

Reconciliation would allow Congress to approve a healthcare plan with a simple majority vote — a key weapon for Democratic senators to prevent a Republican filibuster, which would require a three-fifths vote to break.

Nonetheless, it should be a weapon of last resort. Reconciliation has its problems: Items not strictly related to specific budgetary concerns can be challenged, slowing negotiations. Reconciliation bills include expiration dates that must be explicitly renewed. President Bush's tax cuts for the rich, which passed using this procedure, is one example. And constructive, meaningful debate on this critical issue is preferable to Republicans having an excuse to adopt an unhelpful, just-say-no position.