Health care overhaul bill slowed by read-a-thon

Health care overhaul bill slowed by read-a-thon

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats' drive to pass health care overhaul by Christmas sputtered Wednesday as a lone moderate holdout remained undecided and Republican delaying tactics stretched an already protracted debate even further.

Despite a one-on-one meeting Tuesday with President Barack Obama that lasted 30 minutes, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he still has concerns about abortion and other issues. Nelson, the only known holdout among 60 senators whose votes are needed to move the bill, said it had been his third meeting in eight days with the president.

Obama "made a strong case f

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The Republican senator requested that any amendment considered by the Senate should be offered 72 hours in advance,in order to give Senators enough time to read the entire amendment. This is EXACTLY what OBAMA PROMISED when he was running for President. Of course, like other promises, such as eliminating EARMARKS, they have all been broken. Fighting fire with fire, Coburn then invoked a little used rule that requires, IF REQUESTED, a bill or amendment be read by the clerk of the Senate. You can now view this reading of the entire 767 pages of the amendment on C-SPAN coverage of the Senate.
Good for Coburn!

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is so awesome.

I wish this was done for every idiotic bill they throw together.

Somebody get Coburn a pot of coffee and a plate of cookies.

Watch it live. What fun!

After requesting it be read he left.

[edit on 16-12-2009 by thisguyrighthere]

Oh this is going to be great, I know the clerk of the Senate is hating it, but it's going to take them to at least Christmas to read the entire bill.

To bad they haven't done this before now. I wonder if they are going to make a push to get rid of that rule. Also I don't think Ben Nelson is going to vote for it, the admin threatened to put a military base, which happens to be the US Strategic Command HQ, on the list of bases to be closed if Nelson doesn't vote for the bill. Nelson said he had drawn his line in the sand.

I hope Nelson stands his ground because the blowback from that move will hurt Obama supremely hard.

I bet this is the last time this happens. It would be neat if this was used on everything, but no way could that be allowed to happen. I wonder how they are going to feel having their ammendments read for the world to see? Bet it's not even covered by the MSM though.

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife

Also I don't think Ben Nelson is going to vote for it, the admin threatened to put a military base, which happens to be the US Strategic Command HQ, on the list of bases to be closed if Nelson doesn't vote for the bill.

I hope Sen. Nelson looked him straight in the eye and said something along the lines of "I dare you".

Personally, I'd have told the President where to head in. Not in so many words perhaps, but the jist of it would have come through loud and clear.

reply to post by hephalump


You and I both. There is only one person that a decision like that could fall back on and that is the administration. Also playing politics with our military isn't exactly a very good thing to be doing.

Who do I have to call to get United National Ben Nelson day put into recognized holidays?

Love someone who can look the lion right in the eye and tell him play a game of hide and go "F" himself.

[edit on 16-12-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


Don't know that he actually did...we can hope though, can't we?

reply to post by Hastobemoretolife

It looks like somehow, they stopped reading the bill. I missed what happened, but they were only about 20% of the way through the reading, and it ended. Oh well, good try.

Anyway, it is disgusting what they did to Ben Nelson, with that threat. What vindictive SOB's they are. It shows that they will kill their own to get their way. What scum!

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


That it does. Hopefully Ben stands his ground but we know how Obama and his merry band of thieves are.

from op's source

Obama repeated his demand for action, telling ABC News "the federal government will go bankrupt" if the health care bill fails. He said Medicare and Medicaid are on an "unsustainable" path if no action is taken.

I hope he understands that the trillions he has spent and wants to continue spending is what is causing this government to go bankrupt.

I also think it is pretty lame for the President of the US to advertise to the world that we are on the verge of bankruptcy.

reply to post by jam321

I also think it is pretty lame for the President of the US to advertise to the world that we are on the verge of bankruptcy.

I agree it is a pretty stupid thing to do, but consider the source.
Obama just cannot resist taking every chance that he can get, to denigrate the US. He and his wife have nothing but contempt for our country, and are doing everything in their power to make it the "Great Socialist Experience".

They just explained why the reading of the amendment stopped. Sen. Sanders withdrew the amendment, at the request of Democrats. They knew this reading would have gone on until Christmas, and that essentially would have killed health care.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


He must not have thought his amendment was very valuable to just withdraw it like that.

I wonder how many other "legislators" share the same pride in their bills and amendments.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


Now they need to suggest that the bill be read before it goes to cloture.

Also Obama's explanation doesn't make one bit of sense, lets cut medicare payments because medicare is on an unsustainable path, while expanding the buy in. Meanwhile expanding more people of the government dole with a government run program.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

I wonder how many other "legislators" share the same pride in their bills and amendments.

I'm sure they promised him 300 million dollars would be put in the health care bill for Vermont, his home state. That seems to be the price this week, as Sen. Landrieu of La. knows.

on the verge of bankruptcy

Really? "on the verge?" Seriously? The United States government IS bankrupt.

Bankruptcy is the state of being financially insolvent. From Mirriam Webster:
Insolvent: (noun)
1. Unable to pay debts as they fall due in the usual course of business.
2. Having liabillities in excess of reasonable market value of held assets or insufficient to pay all debts.

I would argue that decades of deficit spending combined with the deteriorating value of the dollar, plus the relentless compiling of entitlement and guaranteed spending has left us right now, today, bankrupt. Wiser men than myself feel the same way as I do about this: www.ronpaul.com...

As for the OP, at least somebody in Washington is reading the damned bill... unfortunately it isn't someone who's going to be voting (for or against) over it. Our entire government can right now be broken down into two groups... the sycophantic jackasses on the Left who, rather than using independant thought and actually representing the best interests of those who foolishly voted for them, look purely to their figurehead for determination of what they should stand for and the cowardly jackasses on the right who, rather than using independant thought and actually representing the best interests of those who also foolishly voted for them, just wait to see what the left is doing and then stand for the exact opposite. The end result is the same on both sides... One hundred jackasses in the US Senate (give or take a couple with spines) and four hundred thirty five jackasses in the US House (again, give or take) with absolutely NO moral fiber nor with any intention or track records of faithfully representing those who foolishly elected them. 535 absolutely worthless excuses for "leaders" all standing and cheering or cajoling the primary figurehead who's value to this nation has so far been demonstrated to be trillions in new debt used to buy a Nobel prize.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Will you marry me ?

You said it all . I think I am going to copy your post and spread it around town....if thats ok ?

We really need everyone at the voting booths these next few elections.

[edit on 16-12-2009 by Grayelf2009]

Originally posted by Grayelf2009
reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

Will you marry me ?

You said it all . I think I am going to copy your post and spread it around town....if thats ok ?

1. Already married...
2. Fine with me. I'd like nothing more than for the general population to start becoming educated on just how little return we're getting off of the staggering "investments" these "representatives" are making in our names.