Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Uh-oh, find a better plan thean "No!"

Seems that the Obama Administration has taken a look at the Republican strategy of "filibuster everything, find out what it is we're opposing later" and deemed it an obstruction to their agenda. Fortunately they unleashed their number master, OMB Director Pete Orszag, on the problem. His radical solution is to make it so that a simple majority of votes will secure passage and that legislation will actually get voted on. Guh? In the Senate? What type of witchcraft is this?
A top White House official threatened Tuesday to use a congressional rule to force some controversial proposals through the Senate by eliminating the Republicans' power to block legislation.

Peter Orszag, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the Obama administration would prefer not to use the budget "reconciliation" process that allows measures to pass the Senate on simple majority votes.

Orszag said he wouldn't rule it out, however. The legislative tactic is being considered to push through Obama's global warming and health care programs, and perhaps his proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy.

"We'd like to avoid it if possible," Orszag told reporters at a luncheon in Washington. "But we're not taking it off the table."
Can you start doing this two months ago? Perhaps you should have used it on those bailout measures that were large parts of the budget that needed reconciled. Seriously, just use it all the time. "Uhhh...this requires...money...and thus...needs to be...reconciled. Majority rule!" Then hand out drinks and party. It's no secret that the filibuster process has been increasingly abused, why keep fucking around with people who have no other ideas and are uninterested in debate or doing anything?

Why announce you want to avoid it either? Are Senate Republicans going to get less unreasonable, play less hardball, filibuster less? No. If you announce you're going to do it can they even possibly obstruct and filibuster more? I doubt it. Don't hamper health care passage because Mitch McConnell is going to whine because he can't block it or because you need to water it down bad enough to get Arlen Specter or Olympia Snowe to jump over and keep Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh from jumping ship. Don't take any guff from these fucking swine. Do it.

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