Labor & Employment Law

Republicans Set for Last Ditch Senate Assault on Health Care Reform

By Mike Hall

Today, Senate Republicans are dipping into their obstructionist toolbox for every last monkey wrench they can find to throw into the works of the Senate’s final action on health care reform.

On top of that, they’ve decided to stick with bankers’ hours and stop work on hearings at 2 p.m. In this latest hold-their-collective-breathe-?til-they-turn-blue temper tantrum over the health care reconciliation bill, they are halting work on other important legislation. More on that below.

We’re also hearing from workers and union leaders that many employers are beginning to spread misinformation about health care reform and its impact, including threats of benefit cuts and cost hikes. We’ll bring you more as this story develops.

But first, the latest on reconciliation. After the House passed the health care reform bill Sunday night?which President Obama signed into law yesterday?it also passed a bill that fixes certain flaws in the original Senate bill. The fixes are what is before the Senate this week.

That bill?considered under what is called reconciliation?cannot be filibustered and only needs 51 votes to pass. But if any changes are made in the bill, it must go back to the House for another vote. Republican leaders have vowed to us every trick, scam and scheme they can to make changes and force yet another delay and a vote.

The reconciliation rules allow unlimited amendments that must be voted on. The amendments do not have to have anything to do with health care. Beginning as soon as this afternoon, Republicans will launch this “vote-o-rama” in an attempt to either force a change in the bill or force Democrats to vote against issues they normally support, such as amendments that will purport to lower taxes and strengthen Social Security and Medicare.

As Mike Madden from Salon wrote this morning:

Republicans could force Democrats to vote over and over on things that have nothing to do with healthcare?but sound bad in a 30-second commercial this fall (something like, “Call Harry Reid, and ask him why he voted not to send child molesters to an underground dungeon,” for example).

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says any amendment offered during this process is nothing more than a “poison pill.” Senators must remember that:

A ‘NO’ on amendments is a ‘YES’ on health care.

Working families won’t be fooled by dirty tricks from the opponents of health reform out to do the bidding of the insurance companies. And U.S. senators should not be fooled either.

Just as we did in the House, unions will employ all our resources to support senators in passing the reconciliation package and taking the last step on the path to health care reform for all Americans. We will make sure that constituents of senators who do the right thing and vote “no” on all amendments know the score about what really goes on in the Senate.

As this vote-o-rama drags on, remember every amendment offered by the Republicans is nothing more than an attempt to kill health care.

Meanwhile, in staying true to their say-no-to-everything mantra, Senate Republicans are using an obscure and seldom-used rule to stall all Senate hearings after 2 p.m. Amanda Terkel at Think Progress reports:

There is a little-known rule in the Senate stating that hearings can’t happen after 2 p.m. each day without unanimous consent. However, every day, at the start of business, the Senate generally agrees, by unanimous consent, to waive this rule and continue with the necessary business of holding hearings.

But, as Ezra Klein of the Washington Post writes:

Every day, that is, until now. Republicans angry about the passage of health care reform are invoking the dreaded half-day maneuver….[You] could imagine a lot of smart ways to begin obstructing the chamber and making life miserable for Democrats. But declaring that you won’t work after 2 p.m.? Do Republicans really think the average American is going to rally to that battle cry?

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).