Reconciliation Insanity
Earlier this evening, a quesiton popped into my head that perfectly illustrates the insanity of the Democrats’ health care legislation.
For months, Democrats have excluded the Medicare/Doc Fix from their health care legislation to get the CBO to say that their health care legislation reduces the deficit. People living outside the Beltway would think it’s only natural to include that reform in the Democrats’ health care legislation. I’m betting that 90+ percent of the people would say that the Medicare/Doc Fix should be included in the Democrats’ health care legislation.
Similarly, people living outside the Beltway would scratch their heads wondering what the federal government’s takeover of the student loan program has to do with the Democrats’ health care reform. I’m betting that 90+ percent of the people would say that the federal student loan program has nothing to do with lowering health care costs.
I’d further argue that this only makes sense if viewed through the perspective of reconciliation and the Byrd Rule. Then it makes perfect sense. Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Byrd Rule:
The Byrd Rule defines a provision to be “extraneous” (and therefore ineligible for reconciliation) in six cases:
1. if it does not produce a change in outlays or revenues;
2. if it produces an outlay increase or revenue decrease when the instructed committee is not in compliance with its instructions;
3. if it is outside the jurisdiction of the committee that submitted the title or provision for inclusion in the reconciliation measure;
4. if it produces a change in outlays or revenues which is merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision;
5. if it would increase the deficit for a fiscal year beyond those covered by the reconciliation measure, though the provisions in question may receive an exception if they in total in a Title of the measure net to a reduction in the deficit; and
6. if it recommends changes in Social Security.
Clearly, the Medicare/Doc Fix would increase the deficit since it would add in more than $300,000,000,000 of spending on Medicare. Conversely, the federal takeover of the student loan program would produce a surplus for that program.
If the Democrats didn’t include the student loan program, they couldn’t use reconciliation. If the Democrats included the Medicare/Doc Fix in their health care legislation, they couldn’t use reconciliation.
Let’s put it another way. Spending money on the Medicare/Doc Fix would expose the Democrats’ legislation as increasing health care costs while adding to the deficits.
Why It’s Important
It’s important that the Democrats construct their bill this way because the House Democrats wouldn’t vote for the Senate bill if they thought they couldn’t pass their changes to the Senate bill. It can’t be overstated how much House Democrats hate the Senate health care legislation.
There’s still tension between House and Senate Democrats. That got worse thanks to Sen. Coburn, who decided to play hardball with House Democrats:
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House.
If you voted no and you vote yes, and you lose your election, and you think any nomination to a federal position isn’t going to be held in the Senate, I’ve got news for you. It’s going to be held.
Number two is, if you get a deal, a parochial deal for you or your district, I’ve already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other senators that we will look at every appropriations bill, at every level, at every instance, and we will outline it by district, and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. So, if you think you can cut a deal now, and it not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that isn’t going to happen. And be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House.
House Democrats weren’t convinced that Senate Democrats would pass the corrections that they’re putting into their reconciliation bill. Couple that with Sen. Kent Conrad’s statement that the Senate wouldn’t pass the House reconciliation bill without altering it a bit and House Democrats must be wondering if they aren’t being asked to walk the plank.
This shouldn’t be unexpected. That’s what happens when a president and speaker try passing legislation that’s far more radical than the American people are willing to support.
They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows. With this legislation, reconciliation appears to have made for some odd rationalizations. Only desperate Democrats can explain why Medicare spending isn’t part of health care legislation but student loans are part of that legislation.
Technorati Tags: Medicare, Doc Fix, Student Loans, Reconciliation, Byrd Rule, Kent Conrad, Democrats, Tom Coburn, Republicans
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog