The Height of Arrogance

The Hat Trick hasn't commented on political issues lately but I feel it is time to do so regarding the upcoming vote on health care reform and the recent discussions of the Democratic leadership regarding their legislative strategy. The Hat Trick can sum up in one word his feelings toward the Democratic leadership and Speaker Pelosi: appalled.

I want to make one thing clear to my readers: while I have some deep concerns regarding the current plan, as well as previous drafts of the health care legislation, the Hat Trick has pretty much kept quiet. This is because I do think there is a significant need for reform of our current system. The issues surrounding pre-existing conditions (insurance companies ability to deny coverage based on an applicants existing medical issue), inability of small business to pool together in groups to purchase insurance across state lines (such as labor unions and large corporations can do) and tort reform/cost of malpractice insurance for practitioners are serious issues that need to be addressed. However, I still remain concerned about the scope and impact of the current legislation before the House of Representatives and I'm not alone in that assessment based on a recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. This is why Speaker Nancy Pelosi is finding it very difficult to obtain the 216 votes she needs in the House of Representatives to pass the Senate-passed bill. She faces two challenges: strong opposition from moderate and conservative members of her caucus who fear electoral defeat in November if they support the legislation and opposition to the bill from ardent liberal in her caucus who state the legislation doesn't go far enough. Add in the fact that it appears not a single Republican in the 111th Congress (accounting for 178 votes) will support the bill and you can see the challenges in passing the legislation that the Speaker currently faces. A girl just can't get a break can she?

It would seem at this juncture the prudent move would be to step back and try and find a plan that will work and gain Republican votes.

This brings us to the current state of affairs. The Speaker now proposes to use a legislative technique called "reconciliation" to pass the health care bill in the House. The advantage to using reconciliation is that it would only require a majority vote in the Senate to pass the bill instead of overcoming a 60 member procedural vote to invoke cloture and stop a filibuster. The bad part about using reconciliation is that it was never intended to be used to pass this type of legislation. Rather, it was established in 1974 to allow Congress to address contentious budget resolutions without the threat of a filibuster. However, it has been used to pass other contentious types of legislation sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats. The current spin by Democrats on Capitol Hill is that only Republicans have abused the reconciliation process, which is not very truthful at all. While they point out that it was used eight times during the Reagan Administration (January 1981-January 1989) they fail to point out that the Democrats controlled the House during all eight years of the Reagan presidency and control of the entire Congress from 1987 to 1989 (and beyond until 1995). The bottom line is that both parties have abused the reconciliation process but each party has been adroit at defending their (ab)use of the process.

However, one of the big issues that concerns the Hat Trick is the impact that health care reform will have on the entire population, particularly with regard to cost. This makes the gimmicky use of reconciliation all the more appalling to me given the incredible impact this will have on the population and the economy.

If this wasn't bad enough the Democrats want to take it one step further. Speaker Pelosi is evaluating using a legislative device called "Deem and Pass" which would set up a scenario where the unpopular Senate-passed package would be "deemed passed" after the House passes a package of modifications to the bill. The theory behind this is that the politically vulnerable Democrats could claim they never voted for the unpopular Senate package. Seriously? Where do we get these people? It's no wonder that the American population has such a low opinion of Congress and of politics. This is a great example of petulant politics where the Democrats are unhappy that they American people have the audacity to question their legislation so now they are going to try and "gimmick" it through instead. Absolutely pathetic.

I'm not saying the Republicans wouldn't have tried the same thing but the fact is that it's the Democrats that are doing this to avoid a legislation showdown. The Hat Trick is pretty frustrated by this...the bottom line is if you feel this legislation is the right thing for the country then take the vote and let the chips fall. Stop the stupidity and stop the shady deals and legislative gimmicks.

Congress: It's time to man up and take a stand.

Thank You Harry Reid

Well folks it looks like the cat is finally out of the bag. According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) you are a racist if you oppose health care reform. Yes, that’s correct. On Monday Senator Reid, in prepared remarks and not off the cuff, stated on the Senate floor that Republicans who opposed the health care bill currently being debated are akin to those who in the past who blocked the abolition of slavery, voting rights for women and the civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s.

Of course this is the genius that called President Bush a “loser” while conducting a civics lesson in a Nevada school room in 2005 so this isn’t exactly surprising. What is shocking to the Hat Trick is that Senator Reid is up for re-election in 2010 and faces a tight race…it’s not like Nevada is the bluest state out there. I can only imagine the moral outrage from the left and the media if a Republican had made that same statement.

It’s a shame that we can’t have an honest debate about one of the most massive pieces of legislation to ever come out of Congress. Just like it wasn’t right for Republicans to question ones patriotism if they opposed the Iraq War this is equally wrong. The Hat Trick isn’t sure where he stands on the current bill being debated…there are a lot of problems with it and the Republicans and Democrats who have raised these problems have a right to do so. In the same light Republicans needs to be careful about opposing everything because reform is needed in some very critical areas. Regardless, we need to have this debate…not be called out because Harry Reid wants everyone to march in tune to his agenda.

Hat Tricks Doing Well

The newest member of the Hat Trick (and future Red Wings fan) family joined us on July 22, 2009. Our newest family member is a daughter and had a healthy delivery with Mom and "Peanut" doing well. Needless to say the whole family is happy and excited!

There certainly have been a lot of public policy issues, such as the health care debate, going on that the Hat Trick has been negligent in covering for my readers. However, with the Hat Tricks just trying to survive in this economy with my continued unemployment, I have not been able to develop the urge to comment. All I can say is that the Hat Trick has definitely experienced the challenges of health care reform personally with having to pay for COBRA coverage for the family. Even with the reduced payments due to the stimulus package it's still a big monthly payment that eats up a lot of the monthly unemployment insurance we receive. However, some of the ideas currently being debated in the Congress greatly concern the Hat Trick due to their long term ramifications for future generations. We'll see where the debate goes in September when the Congress returns from the August recess (where they are hearing a lot of backlash from constituents already!).

Best wishes to all my readers for a happy final month of the summer (and the 2009-2010 NHL season quickly approaching!).