Tag Archives: majority

Budget Reconciliation is NOT the Nuclear Option

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Much has been made lately of the proposal that Congress may use Reconciliation to pass the upcoming Health-Care Bill.  Some have even termed the phrase "Nuclear Option" and have made it seem that using this perfectly legal and useful law would somehow be "cheating" or "unfair".
The budget reconciliation process allows any legislation that has an impact on the deficit to come to a final vote after a maximum of 20 hours of debate. That means that the minority party cannot filibuster beyond those 20 hours, and that the legislation would need a simple majority of 51 votes to pass (not the 60 that it takes to break a filibuster). This is provided for in federal law approved by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon. It has been used 21 times, by both Democratic and Republican Congress’, since its establishment in 1974. Clearly, there is nothing “nuclear” about using this process.
Simply put, this method does not somehow bypass voting or any laws, it simply puts a time limit on the filibuster.  It then immediately brings forth the Constitutional vote by majority to pass a bill.  Where it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, the Constitution says that a simple majority (51 votes currently) is needed to pass the bill. The "Nuclear Option" is actually completely separate.  It would permanently change the rules of the Senate to allow the 51 vote pass, thereby completely eliminating the filibuster, for certain types of legislation. OpenCongress: Budget Reconciliation is NOT the Nuclear Option

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Corporate Sponsored Grassroots

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Rachel Maddow exposes the monied interests pretending to be "average Americans" who are fueling the outrage at these "town halls gone wild". First up, Recess Rally, sponsored by Michelle Malkin, Smart Girl Politics, Redstate, but also American Majority, and as Rachel points out, this group is hardly made up of average Americans even though they tout themselves as being a non-profit, non-partisan organization.

The people behind American Majority; Ned Ryun, former George W. Bush speech writer, Lonny Leitner, Regional Field Director for Bush/Cheney '04, Shari Weber, former Republican State Legislator, Matt Pinnell, a former Washington conservative lobbyist.

Rachel notes that American Majority is an offshoot of another Recess Rally sponsor, The Sam Adams Alliance. Their President, John Tsarpalas, former Executive Director of the Illinois State Republican party, their Director, Joseph Lehman, former Dow Chemicals engineer and president of the nation's largest conservative state level policy think tank.

Another sponsor of Recess Rally, Let Freedom Ring. Their founder, the money man behind the television ad exploiting 9-11 to promote the Iraq invasion. Another sponsor, the swift boaters.

Yet another sponsor, Americans for Prosperity, and their subsidiary Patients First. Americans for Prosperity's Director, Art Pope, who has the headquarters of the North Carolina Republican party named after him since he's given them so much money. Their Chairman, David Koch, the 19th richest man in the world who runs Koch Industries, which is the largest privately held oil company in the United States.

To talk about these town hall events as some organic outpouring of average American folks who have concerns about health care is to be willfully blind to what is really going on, which is professional P.R. operatives generating exploitative, manufactured, strategically deployed outrage in order to line their own pocket.

This is professional, corporate funded Republican staffed P.R., and it should be reported as such.




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The vast majority of Americans don't want Uncle Sam to touch their health care.

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Today, speaking at the National Press Club, Michael Steele explained: Transcript:
260 million Americans currently have health insurance coverage, the great majority through private insurers, and polls consistently show that they are overwhelmingly pleased with their current coverage.  ...  The vast majority of Americans like their health care coverage. The vast majority of Americans like the quality of their health care. The vast majority of Americans don't want Uncle Sam to touch their health care.
I would like Michael Steele and others echoing these same lines why the actual numbers show otherwise. 85% of Americans support "fundamental changes" to or a "complete rebuild" of the health care system. 64% believe the government should guarantee insurance for all Americans and 72% think the government should offer a public option styled after Medicare to compete with private insurers. OK, so they don't like the current plans.  Then become involved and put out some ideas and plans of your own.  All I've heard from Republicans so far is "this is too expensive", "Americans don't want this", and "This is a jobs killer". None of which helps the actual problem. No health insurance causes people to put health care completely, or resort to the emergency room, which usually only makes their health problems worse.  These people are the same that if they survive will eventually be on Medicare/Medicaid with worse, preventable health problems.  It will cost more to help them then, than to find some way to get them affordable preventative medicine now. Also, especially in this economic climate, many people are attached to their jobs not just for their paychecks, but their health insurance.  Many households may have a desire or idea to go into small or home-based business, but don't want to lose their families health insurance package, so they stay at their job.  This has often been referred to as "Job-Lock". So please politicians, we know your party is hurting, but do a favor for America and instead of standing in the way, help come up with a way to get this done affordably. Health Care ‘Job Lock’ Stifles Entrepreneurship

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AVG 8.5 Free Released

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"For the free product – which the majority of our users are on – we acquired XPL whose technology was based on two separate things, safe search which we've already delivered in AVG Free and what we've delivered in AVG 8.5 which is safe surf," said Burke

"This means that any random website that you visit, we step in and check the webcode before it's executed to block any malicious code.

"This is the key enhancement for people using the free version – and it's very important bearing in mind the ever-increasing time we are doing we doing web searches or e-commerce.

Download Here

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Why Nothing Gets Done in the Senate....

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Yesterday, a bill had a majority of 56-44 votes in favor of it.  So it won the vote right?   Wrong.  Due to Senate rules, and the absense of anyone objecting, the bill had to pass with 60 votes or more or it failed.  So much for majority.
"The reason the Webb amendment failed even though it got 56 votes was that Senators agreed by unanimous consent that the amendment should have to get 60 votes to pass, even without a filibuster. But why would anyone agree to allow Republicans, who are already on pace to shatter all previous filibuster records, to stop an amendment this important and this sensible without even lifting a finger? And the question here is not just why anyone would allow it, but why everyone did. A single Senator could have put a stop to this simply by saying, "I object" when the unanimous consent request was made. Just one Senator. Yet none did. Not Harry Reid. Not Russ Feingold. Not Bernie Sanders. Nobody. And so the Webb amendment died quietly yesterday, allowing Republicans to enjoy all the obstructionist benefits of a filibuster, without having to stand up and tell Americans and their fighting men and women in the military exactly what they were doing. And not a moment was "wasted" on the "extended debate" that's supposed to make up a filibuster. Everyone just politely agreed that 56-44 would be a losing vote for America's sons and daughters wearing the uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they did it on national television. And America yawned, hit the snooze button, and slept in."
Read the full article.

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