The Grand Old Blog

Reconcile me this

Last week I went on the record regarding my thoughts on Reconciliation. Essentially, Democrats want to use this process, also known as a simple majority vote, to pass their so-called healthcare bill. The use of this technique in this way is, quite simply, unprecedented. It’s irresponsible of Democrats to use this aberration, this monster, this atrocity that we now call the Nuclear Option, when we Republicans have only used it sixteen times.

What I mean is that, if you set aside the passage of bills establishing COBRA, making major changes to Medicare, reforming nursing homes, creating SCHIP, and introducing the massive Bush tax cuts — well, then, it becomes clear that Reconciliation has never been used for anything important.

This is why I am perplexed as to why Democrats want to use what is solely a budgetary tool to pass healthcare legislation. I mean, to me it is particularly painful because we Republicans have really been as cooperative as possible on this issue. Deep down, this really hurts.