McCain To Propose Amendment Prohibiting Changes To Medicare Using Reconciliation
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on March 2nd, 2010 5:36 am by HL
McCain To Propose Amendment Prohibiting Changes To Medicare Using Reconciliation
President Barack Obama may have cut off Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at Thursday’s health care summit, but Meet the Press gave McCain the last word this Sunday. During yesterday’s appearance McCain announced that he will introduce legislation preventing the Democrats from using reconciliation to change Medicare spending: MCCAIN: And let me also say that […]
President Barack Obama may have cut off Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at Thursday’s health care summit, but Meet the Press gave McCain the last word this Sunday. During yesterday’s appearance McCain announced that he will introduce legislation preventing the Democrats from using reconciliation to change Medicare spending:
MCCAIN: And let me also say that Robert Byrd also in the ’70s exempted Social Security. Social Security cannot be considered in reconciliation. We should do the same thing with Medicare. Lindsay Graham and I will be introducing legislation. Entitlements should not be part of a reconciliation process, i.e., 51 votes. It’s too important.
As McCain gears up for the toughest re-election campaign of his career, he has abandoned his support for cutting Medicare and Medicaid by some $1.3 trillion over 10 years and has grown increasingly protective of the government-sponsored program. At the summit, the Senator accused Obama of approving an ‘unsavory’ special deal for Floridians on Medicare Advantage and has spent hours defending the Medicare program during floor debate.
To my ears, the McCain/Graham amendment is another political ploy that’s designed to communicate a message rather than stop the reconciliation process. After all, Congress has already approved the Medicare changes in the Senate health care bill and the reconciliation package of fixes will only include a change to the payroll tax (used to fund the Medicare program). A McCain/Grahm amendment that prohibits reconciliation changes to the Medicare trust fund could complicate the package, but it won’t derail the entire effort.
But on the whole, this is really a cynical move (and highly unlikely, since any rule change would require 67 votes). Republicans have consistantly supported far larger cuts to the Medicare program than what Democrats are currently proposing and are always complaining that the Medicare “entitlement” program will bankrupt the nation. Now they’re preparing to unveil an amendment designed to prohibit Democrats from reducing Medicare spending and extending the life of the program.
Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.
Lamar Alexander Won?t Rule Out Using Reconciliation To Repeal Health Care Reform
Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) attacked Democrats for considering using reconciliation to pass health care reform, saying it would be “the end of the Senate.” Yet Alexander himself has voted for bills using reconciliation at least four times in his Senate career. Today on Fox News, Alexander said that if Democrats […]
Yesterday on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) attacked Democrats for considering using reconciliation to pass health care reform, saying it would be “the end of the Senate.” Yet Alexander himself has voted for bills using reconciliation at least four times in his Senate career.
Today on Fox News, Alexander said that if Democrats pass health care, he will lead the GOP charge to repeal it. “We’ll spend the rest of the year in the campaign to try to repeal it,” he said, adding that “the health care bill is going to define every Democratic candidate for every public office in November.”
Later on ABC’s Top Line, Alexander again attacked reconciliation and reiterated his repeal pledge, but the Tennessee senator wouldn’t rule out using reconciliation to repeal health care reform:
Q: If the Democrats succeed in jamming this through on reconciliation, would you be open to using the very same process – reconciliation – to repeal health care reform?
ALEXANDER: I don’t like using the reconciliation for this. I’ve tried to be consistent in my views. […]
Q: Is reconciliation something you would say, “We would never use for something substantive legislation like health care?” Are you prepared to make that kind of statement?
ALEXANDER: No I’m not going to prepare to make any kind of statement. I’m prepared to say it shouldn’t be done now and if it shouldn’t be done now it shouldn’t be done in the future.
Watch it (starting at 4:40):
It doesn’t make sense that using reconciliation to pass health care reform would be “the end of the Senate,” yet using the process to repeal it would be perfectly acceptable.
“The goal of the repeal movement is to intimidate Democrats into inaction and raise money,” notes the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky, adding that “they’ll be attacked for voting for an unpopular bill and portrayed as weak for abandoning an effort they fervently championed. Then again, if Democrats are willing to take their campaign advice from Republicans, maybe they shouldn’t be in Congress in the first place.”
