The Classic Liberal Blog

CODE RED! D.C. Rally NOON TODAY

Americans will gather in Washington, D.C., today to speak out in opposition to the $2.5 trillion government takeover of health care.

WHEN: Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 12:00 Noon ET
WHERE: West Lawn of the Capitol

SPEAKERS: Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Rep. Tom Price, Rep. Joe Wilson, actor John Voight, Dr. Milton Wolf, Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Tim Phillips and Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity, Jim Martin of 60 Plus, Andrew Larger of Institute for Liberty, Kathryn Serkes of the Doctor Patient Medical Association, Mark Skoda of the Memphis Tea Party, Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express, Jennifer Hulsey of American Grassroots Coalition, and Ben Cunningham of the Tennessee Tax Revolt.

Chaos: Pelosi reaches deal with Stupak for Senate abortion vote?

Makes no sense.

Pro-choice members of the House, however, are demanding that the vote on the Concurrent Resolution happen before the House confirms the Senate bill. If in fact it passes, they plan to vote against confirming the Senate bill. They want Rep. Diana Degette to release the names of the 41 cosigners to her letter who pledged to vote against any bill that restricts a woman’s right to choose, and they are angry that the White House has been whipping to push through the Stupak deal…

The deal calls for Stupak to have a vote on his amendment either before or after the House votes to confirm the Senate bill on Sunday. Stupak is confident that he has the votes to pass the measure, and is happy to have the vote after the House passes the Senate bill. He believes that by using a “tie bar” measure, his amendment would be “tied” to the health care bill — which would require just 51 votes in the Senate.

There are many more pro-choicers in the House than there are members of Stupak’s bloc, so Pelosi would actually lose votes by agreeing to this unless one of two things is true. (1) It’s all for show. The pro-lifers want nothing more than a vote in the Senate. They expect to lose, but the political cover they’ll gain for making a minor stand on principle is enough to make it worth their while. Except … if it’s true that Stupak only needs 51 votes in the Senate, not 60, then this might actually pass. (If you’re wondering why they need only 51, cross your fingers and read this primer on “enrollment corrections bills.” Essentially, you’re allowed to make minor technical changes to a bill even after it’s been passed. Is this a minor technical change? Why, no. But Stupak will try anything, I guess.) (2) The pro-choicers are planning to cave. They caved in November, didn’t they? Problem is, this is the final bill and they … sure don’t sound like they’re going to cave. Diana DeGette, leader of the pro-choice caucus, claims she has the votes to kill it if Stupak gets his way, and given how close the margin is, it’d only take three or four stalwarts to walk to torpedo the whole thing. Drama!

The Demcare bribe list, Pt. III; Update: Late-night wheeling and dealing into the midnight hour; Stupak press conference 11am Saturday

Here we go again. Time for another Let’s Make a Deal Watch in the Era of Hope of Change. As GOP Rep. Paul Ryan noted the other day at the House Budget Committee wreckonciliation shell hearing: “We are not governing here today, we are greasing the skids.”

First, a link refresher: Beltway Christmas: Cash for corruptocrats; the Demcare bribe list, Pt. I; Demcare bribe list, Pt. II; “A Reading Guide to the Senate Bill’s Backroom Deals”; and The Chicago Way: Judgeships for Demcare votes?

Now, here’s my rundown on the latest bribes and payoffs. GOP Sen. Tom Coburn is also on high alert. You keep watch, too, and send your additions:

*Nebraska’s Hospital Helper ...

Democrats say memo showing them running from debate over CBO is a fake

UPDATE 3 p.m. – A senior Democratic aide says the memo is fake, according to Talking Points Memo.

*****

Rep. Boehner’s office is emailing around a memo from Steny Hoyer to Democrats, instructing them to avoid discussing the CBO report and depicting Republicans as “anti-reform extremists.” Below are the juiciest excerpts (again, provided by Boehner’s office–the other two pages are much less salacious):

“Do not allow yourself (or your boss) to get into a discussion of the details of CBO scores and textual narrative.  Instead, focus only on the deficit reduction and number of Americans covered.” “Do not give [opponents] ground by debating details. (For example, the March 11 letter has estimates of discretionary costs not accounted in the [deficit reduction] total).  Again, instead focus only on the deficit reduction and number of Americans covered.” “Most health staff are already away that our health proposal does not contain a [Medicare physician payment] “doc fix.” … The inclusion of a full SGR repeal would undermine reform’s budget neutrality.  So again, do not allow yourself (or your boss) to get into a discussion of the details of CBO scores and textual narrative.  Instead, focus only on the deficit reduction and number of Americans covered.” “Leadership and the White House are working with the [American Medical Association] to rally physicians for a full SGR repeal later this spring.  However, both health and communications staff should understand we do not want that policy discussion discussed at this time, lest I [sic] complicate the last critical push to pass health reform.”

ObamaCare's Fiscal Insanity; UPDATED

Yesterday the long-awaited "scoring" of ObamaCare was released by the CBO. The numbers purportedly show that the government takeover of the U.S. health care system will cost about $940 billion over the first ten years. As many have noted, including Paul Ryan, the CBO is staffed by generally competent and non-partisan people. However, they can only score what is put in front of them. For that reason, the Democrat majority in Congress provided them with convoluted data to guarantee a specific result. Many have written about the farcical nature of the of the CBO number over the past 24 hours. Here is one example from Investors Business Daily:

By presenting the CBO with incomplete, inaccurate and misleading data, the Democrats in Congress were finally able to come up with a cost score they like: $940 billion.

That's the estimate the CBO arrived at. Like a used car dealer pricing a car at $9,999 instead of $10,000, the hucksters in Congress were anxious to get the official cost below the scary $1 trillion level at which things suddenly sound very unaffordable.

Using the rigged $940 billion estimate, Democratic leaders now hope to force a health care bill through as early as Saturday, seizing 17% of the U.S. economy by simply "deeming" the bill is passed — rather than actually passing it in an up-or-down vote.

In fact, the real cost of this health care takeover is more like $2.5 trillion over 10 years — not $940 billion. That's off by, oh, 166%.

Democrats: Lies, More Lies and Damnable Lies

A Democrat memo reveals that the Democrats are intentionally misleading the public on the CBO analysis of Obamacare. While we knew this, this is proof that they know it and are purposefully lying.

RedState has the memo, scanned into pdf format. You can find it here.

Ramming legislation through, against the Will of the People is horrific enough. And now we have proof that they know it is all based on lies. Because, it was never about health care nor the good of the people, was it?

Ed Morrissey confirmed it’s existence and he is always trustworthy. That said, he can’t confirm with whom the memo originated.

Mystery Memo reveals Democrats deception on CBO score

Democrats are now denying that the memo is theirs. They are saying it is a GOP Hoax. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air says he got confirmation that the memo does exist and was being passed around on the Hill, but he cannot say if it came from Republicans or Democrats.

Wherever it came from, there is a lot of truth to it. Throughout the final stretches of health care debate, I have not seen a single Democrat on television get into the nitty gritty details of ObamaCare or the CBO numbers. They do not talk about the taxes, the new IRS agents, or the details of the mandates or anything else. Even Obama stayed away from any real details when Bret Baier grilled him. So it would be quite believable that this memo is actually theirs. I am sure we will find out one way or another where the memo really came from, but will we find out before the big vote?

More at Memeorandum.