With the victory of Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA), Democrats are turning to a secret “Nuclear Option” to push ObamaCare through the Senate and avoid a Republican filibuster. Now it appears, though, that Republicans have a procedural tactic of their own to fight back.
The Hill reports today that “Republicans say they have found a loophole in the budget reconciliation process that could allow them to offer an indefinite number of amendments. Though it has never been done, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he’s prepared to test the Senate’s stamina to block the Democrats from using the process to expedite changes to the healthcare bill. Experts on Senate procedural rules, from both parties, note that such a filibuster is possible.” A close reading of the rules allows for unlimited numbers of amendments to a reconciliation package after debate is complete.
The DeMint tactic is in response to the liberal’s new secret plan to use reconciliation – the Nuclear Option – to force parts of ObamaCare through the Senate with a simple majority vote, thereby avoiding the filibuster rule. House leaders would pass the Senate-passed ObamaCare bill after the reconciliation measure passes the Senate. The reconciliation measure will carry all the changes to the Senate passed ObamaCare bill necessary to get a bill to the President’s desk. It is very confusing, but the bottom line is that the secret plan includes two bills that add up to ObamaCare.
Liberals in Congress need to change the rules of the game to avoid using the regular rules of engagement in the Senate after the victory of Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-MA) to the Senate. They have come up with a controversial plan that allows them to change the rules of the game. The Democrat Caucus does not have 60 votes to pass legislation through the Senate with the power to block amendments and debate, so they need to resort to special budget rules of reconciliation.
The left is angry that anybody would dare to fight back against these strong arm tactics of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev). Jon Walker at FireDogLake argues for the left to toss the rules of the game out of the window. Walker rants that “Reid has the power to call a point of order and with the help of the Chair of the Senate, VP Joe Biden, and fifty members, put an end to this nonsense. Changing the rules mid-session is an extreme measure, but extreme obstructionism calls for extreme solutions.” The left will not rest until they have gutted the rules of the Senate and have passed an ObamaCare bill that even the people of liberal Massachusetts have soundly rejected.
The danger of higher taxes in the future is thwarting economic recovery today. Businesses make investment and hiring decisions based on their expectations of future profitability. If they expect to be more profitable in the future they will hire. If they do not they hold back on expansion. They base their expectations of future returns on estimates of their sales and costs years down the line. Uncertainty in either makes predictions difficult and causes them to put off decisions until they have a better idea what their bottom line will be.
Taxes are a major cost for businesses and all year President Obama and Congress have threatened to raise them. This has had an especially large impact for small business and created a large degree of uncertainty for them. According to the National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) monthly survey of small and independent business owners:
[A] major concern [for small businesses] is the level of uncertainty being created by government… The “turbulence” created when Congress is in session is often debilitating, this year being one of the worst. Themes includ[e] “tax more,” “tax the rich even more,” “VAT taxes,” higher energy costs due to Cap and Trade, mandates and taxes for health care…Uncertainly is the enemy of the real economy as well as financial markets.
The constant threats of higher taxes emanating from Washington are paralyzing small businesses and keeping them from investing and hiring. In fact, 24 percent of them in the NFIB survey report that taxes are the second most important problem they face. That is significant increase from one year ago when only 17 percent of businesses identified taxes as their most important problem. The increase makes clear that the potential tax increases threatened by Congress and President Obama are posing a major problem for small businesses because of the uncertainty they are creating.
Instead of spending billions more on a third sure-to-fail-stimulus, Congress and President Obama should take all tax hikes off the table for the foreseeable future – including the ones to pay for their take over of the health care system. Doing so would give small businesses the predictability they crave and help get the economy creating jobs again - all without spending a dime.