Or, should I say, wimp of the day?
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said on Sunday that he would not support using budget rules that require a simple majority to pass major changes to healthcare and energy policy.
“It is not included in the budget I will put to my colleagues,” Conrad said on “This Week” on Sunday. “It just doesn’t work very well.”
The White House is open to using so-called budget reconciliation measures to pass major elements of the president’s budget if the debate becomes bogged down in the Senate. Reconciliation measures cannot be filibustered.
“I think it has to stay on the table,” said Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.
My answer to Conrad is that it is his responsibility to pass Obama’s health care plan and energy policies and if he can get that done without using the budget reconciliation process then good for him. But I don’t think he’s a magician and I’m not a fool. Ram home the agenda, get it done, and go talk to the voters about all you’ve accomplished.
I guess I’ll never understand what motivates this kind of wobbly fear reaction in the majority party. Maybe the Dems should try to copyright it.
PS — your link just loops back where it started.
thx, fixed.
refresh my memory, boo; is this not similar, or the same, procedure the RATs used to pass all the “off-budget” iraq war spending resolutions? or am l comparing apples to oranges.
ims, l don’t recall any demoRATs having had any problems with doing that, and it’s only been a trillion dollars…so far.
No, the Iraq War funding was done as supplemental funding and could have been filibustered. The last two examples of using budget reconciliation were Clinton’s tax hikes and Bush’s tax cuts.
Didn’t we hear over and over the last 8 years UP OR DOWN VOTE!
“Get it done, and go talk to the voters about all you’ve accomplished.”
I would not envy him that. North Dakotans are nuts about government taxing and spending.
That’s fine, Conrad doesn’t have to vote for it. But let’s cram it thru with 50 votes.