America For Purchase

The Washington Post uncritically quoted Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) saying “there’ll be a minor revolution in this country” if Democrats use the budget reconciliation process to pass health care reform. The Journal did not note that, during the Bush administration, Alexander voted to use the reconciliation process to pass tax cuts and voted against amendments that would have stripped reconciliation language from budget resolutions.

Media Matters writes:Alexander supported passage of 2003 tax cuts through reconciliation and voted for the Senate version of the fiscal 2004 budget resolution that called for additional tax cuts to be considered under reconciliation and for the final version of the 2004 budget resolution. He also voted against an amendment to the Senate version of the budget resolution, proposed by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), that would have stripped reconciliation instructions from the resolution. He subsequently voted for the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 itself. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the bill, as cleared by Congress, “would increase budget deficits by $349.7 billion over the 2003-2013, period.”

Alexander supported passage of 2005 tax cuts through reconciliation and voted for the final version of the fiscal 2005 budget resolution, which also called for tax cuts through reconciliation. Alexander subsequently voted for the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 itself. The CBO estimated that the bill, as cleared by Congress and signed by the president, would “reduce federal revenues by $69.1 billion over the 2006-2015, period.”

The Wall Street Journal, in quoting GOP criticism of reconciliation, media have ignored Republicans’ past support for the tactic. Media Matters for America has documented a pattern of journalists uncritically quoting Republican senators criticizing the decision to use reconciliation as overly partisan, without noting that those same senators — including Sens. Judd Gregg (R-NH), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Olympia Snowe Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — voted to allow the use of the budget reconciliation process to pass legislation during the Bush administration, including tax cuts. (R-ME), and

Why reconciliation was such a good idea when it came to giving tax cuts to millionaires but such a bad one when it comes to trying to provide health care to average Americans.”

From Montgomery’s April 3 Washington Post article:

Republicans blasted the Democratic budget as a reckless manifesto that would greatly expand the size of government and double the national debt within five years. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he feared the consequences of a budget that “calls for a dramatic and potentially irreversible shift of our nation to the left in the areas of health care, education and private enterprise.”

Democrats rallied behind the president, however, arguing that their budget would rebuild an economy ruined by eight years of Republican leadership. In the House, fiscal conservatives generally fell in line behind the plan, even though it would generate a deficit of more than $1.2 trillion next year and produce large annual deficits well into the future. The progressive caucus offered an alternative budget plan primarily to voice opposition to the war in Iraq, though many of its members also voted for the revised Obama budget plan.

The House voted 233 to 196 to support the Democratic budget proposal, with just 20 Democrats voting with Republicans in opposition. The Senate approved its blueprint 55 to 43, with all but two Democrats voting yes.

The biggest dispute between the two chambers is whether to use a powerful procedural shortcut that could allow Obama’s health, education and energy initiatives to pass the Senate with 51 votes rather than the usual 60, eliminating the need to win over any Republicans.

The House yesterday voted to include the procedure, known as reconciliation, in its budget plan to speed health care and education legislation. But Senate Republicans — and some Senate Democrats — argue that the maneuver would make bipartisan cooperation all but impossible on some of the most significant measures to come before the Senate in years.

Hypocrisy is the motto of the Republican Party and Obstructionism is their mission statement.  Honesty and integrity be damned, Republicans do not want America to move forward and they certainly will use every dirty trick to ensure Americans do not progress into the 21^st century.

Filed under: American Injustice