Legal Commentary

Math Lesson For The JournOList: 60 More Than 50

By Big Tent Democrat

JournOLister Jonathan Cohn joins the bash Howard Dean and the public option party, this time pooh poohing reconciliation:

Democracy for America, Howard Dean's group, has (via TPM) launched a campaign to pass health care reform through the reconciliation process. The idea is that while there may not be 60 votes in the Senate to support a public option, there may be 50. And, in the reconciliation process, legislation can pass with just 50 votes, with no worries about rounding up the 60 it takes to break a filibuster.

. . . [R]econciliation might alienate more conservative-leaning Democrats in the Senate. . . . As a result, holding even 50 votes for reform via reconciliation might not be that easy. It could be done, for sure. But, once concessions to those centrists are made, the bill might not look that different from what the Senate would have produced through the usual procedures.

Here's a simple math lesson for the JournOListers. 60 is more than 50. Having to placate Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu is not the same as placating Bill Nelson and Jon Tester. More . .

One I always find interesting is that the JournOList has decided to make Howard Dean the target of their attacks, as opposed to say, Jay Rockefeller, or even better, Charles Schumer. Why don't they attack Schumer, who has said:

[TAPPED]: Is it possible that using reconciliation will produce an ineffective bill, because of procedural problems like the Byrd rule?

[SCHUMER:]We’ve looked at it and you can’t use reconciliation for everything, [but] you can use it for a good number of things. There’s nothing wrong with using it for the places where you can use it and then trying to get the 60 votes on the places where when you can't. You'd be surprised -- the number of places where you can use it is larger than we first thought.

Isn't it funny how Schumer never comes up in these stories? There is a fundamental dishonesty emanating from the JournOList on health care reform, Howard Dean, the public option and reconciliation.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 22, 2009 (boomark / email).