It looks like the House will vote on Obamacare on Sunday. That’s when the House Democrat leadership believes it will have twisted enough arms and paid off enough of their colleagues to have the votes. Will they have a straight up and down vote or will they resort the the Slaughter Rule?
Today, House Democrats defeated 222 – 203 a resolution sponsored by Republicans against the Slaughter Rule.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released a preliminary estimate of the financial impact of the bill that it admits it pretty much meaningless. Apparently a revised estimate will be released Friday or Saturday. The preliminary estimate projects a 10 year savings that is equal to about 2 weeks of 2010 deficits. Of course, this is all based on the deception of combining ten years of tax increases and Medicare cuts with six years of Obamacare “benefits.”
Democrats have also said that they are just getting started. Nancy Pelosi: “Kick open that door, and there will be other legislation to follow. We’ll take the country in a new direction.” So any projection of the current bill whether we know what’s in it or not is meaningless since it is just the first step toward European-style socialism.
President Obama has postponed his trip to Indonesia until June presumably so that he can pressure Democrats to support Obamacare with the argument that a “No” vote would ruin his presidency. As Rush Limbaugh has pointed out, this is the behavior of Third World dictators who “destroy their countries to save face or make them look better.”
The public pressure on Democrats who voted against Obamacare in November must continue. Click on “Melt the Phones: President Cancels Trip Because Democrats Don’t have The Votes” to see Hugh Hewitt’s daily list on who to call.
What will happen after the vote? It all depends. If the vote is on the Slaughter Rule and the President signs the Senate bill, it’s constitutionality will be challenged immediately and some states may refuse to recognize it as law. If Senate Democrats try to adopt the House’s “fixes”, Senate Republicans will offer amendments and the process will continue for a while.
The cleanest outcome would be a “No” vote on Sunday. We could sing “Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead” and start the debate on real health care reform.
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