As The Senate Turns

Yesterday, on As The Senate Turns, Sen. Baucus couldn't understand why Sen. Coburn would want Senators to read a 767-page amendment to the healthcare bill and then individually acknowledge whether or not they understood it.
Today, we join the Senate during the hours that followed. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the author of the 767-page amendment, returns to the floor in a sweaty display of irritation and fury. He demands his amendment not be read. And in the background, you can hear Coburn demanding the Senate follow it's own rules of procedure.
Let's join the show already in progress.



Here's the issue: You cannot yank an amendment off the floor while it's being read without unanimous consent by the Senate. It's called a rule. I know, I know. Libs hate rules when they are applied to themselves. But hey, that's the Senate. That's the gig they signed up for. There are rules that must be followed and Sanders was allowed to skip those rules.

Sen. Mitch McConnel explains the Senate's rules to the Senate.



Couple of points:
- If you want to add an amendment onto a bill, you should expect it might get read on the floor. And if it does, why in the world would reading it outloud anger you enough to yank it out completely? Was it not important? 767-pages and it can be just as easily removed as inserted? Why panic when people hear what this amendment does?
- Notice the alarmist state Sen. Sanders rehashes. Woe unto all us Americas. Woe unto us. We've got unemployment and wars and cough global warming. Liberals can't get anything done without making it a crisis. It's straight from the pages of Sal Alinksy's Rules for Radicals. Freak People Out! Then when you steal them blind while telling them it's for their own good, they'll believe you.

If you're really in the mood to get freaked out, reading Reid's health care bill should do the trick. Play the soundtrack from Bram Stoker's Dracula in the background to set the mood. Sen. Coburn, a practicing physician, doesn't care for horror stories. He outlines the gore you'll find in Reid's bill. More at the link.

I recently suggested that seniors will die sooner if Congress actually implements the Medicare cuts in the health-care bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. My colleagues who defend the bill—none of whom have practiced medicine—predictably dismissed my concern as a scare tactic. They are wrong. Every American, not just seniors, should know that the rationing provisions in the Reid bill will not only reduce their quality of life, but their life spans as well.

My 25 years as a practicing physician have shown me what happens when government attempts to practice medicine: Doctors respond to government coercion instead of patient cues, and patients die prematurely. Even if the public option is eliminated from the bill, these onerous rationing provisions will remain intact......

Additionally, the Reid bill depends on the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in no fewer than 14 places. This task force was responsible for advising women under 50 to not undergo annual mammograms. The administration claims the task force recommendations do not carry the force of law, but the Reid bill itself contradicts them in section 2713. The bill explicitly states, on page 17, that health insurance plans "shall provide coverage for" services approved by the task force. This chilling provision represents the government stepping between doctors and patients. When the government asserts the power to provide care, it also asserts the power to deny care.