There’s an old saying that if you’re arguing process, you’ve lost the debate. In this age of Twitter and 30-second sound bites, it is generally true, and I try not to delve too deeply into the weeds of process and procedure in this daily report. But you need to know what’s going on in Congress right now.

Last week President Obama insisted that healthcare reform was so important that it deserved an up or down vote by any means necessary. Obama demanded Democrats get it done before the end of March, before members of Congress have to face their constituents back home. He also ordered Democrats to go “nuclear” by resorting to complicated and controversial budget reconciliation rules, which he and other Democrats once vehemently opposed.

For days, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have struggled to figure how they can “reform” 20% of our economy under strict rules only intended to guarantee the passage of a budget. Reconciliation rules require that the House pass the Senate’s healthcare bill first, then pass a “bill of fixes” or a separate reconciliation bill, which then has to be approved by the Senate.

The problem for House Democrats is that the Senate bill includes several provisions considered onerous to many House members for a variety of reasons – from abortion funding to immigration issues, kickbacks and tax hikes. Many House Democrats do not want to vote for the Senate bill, which is reportedly “dead on arrival.” But Speaker Pelosi and other House leaders thought they had a way around it.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly cancelled all House committee hearings today so she could corral members of her caucus and present details of their “end game.” One plan under consideration would invoke another parliamentary maneuver referred to as the “Slaughter rule,” after Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. The Slaughter rule allows the House to vote on only the reconciliation “bill of fixes,” and in doing so consider the Senate bill as passed by the House without an actual up or down vote on the Senate’s bill.

I realize this is a lot of “inside baseball,” but it is important. Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the consequences of elections and why it is so critical that we take back Congress in 236 days. The fact that Democrats are going through such contortions to pass a bill the public opposes is an insult to the central principle of our republic: The Consent of the Governed.

The author of the reconciliation process, Sen. Robert Bryd (D-WV,) understood this. Here’s a stirring video of Byrd explaining why he refused to allow Bill Clinton to pass HillaryCare through reconciliation. All those arguments are valid today. The difference is that there’s a new gang in town, and it plays by whatever rules it must in order to win.

But there is good news breaking now! According to Roll Call, “The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package.” In other words, the House must pass the Senate bill, with all its objectionable provisions, before the reconciliation bill can proceed. This is a major blow to ObamaCare because, as I noted, there is little support for the Senate bill in the House today. Stay tuned!

President Obama will be visiting the St. Louis area Wednesday to garner support for his health reform plan.  As Washington prepares for a final bare-knuckled battle this month, the stakes could not be higher.  With Republicans united in opposition, Democratic leaders are planning to enact a sweeping health overhaul that the American people continue to say in the every way possible that they don’t want.

While the president can make a compelling case for action, his assertions about his plan are not backed by facts.  Based upon his most recent health reform statements, the president will continue to make arguments refuted by the facts and independent analyses when he visits Wednesday.  Here are just a few examples:

President Obama said at the White House on March 3 that his plan will “bring down the cost of health care for millions – families, businesses, and the federal government.”

But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says health insurance premiums will continue their steady upward climb under the Senate bill.  Families purchasing insurance in the individual market would see an increase of $2,100 in the year 2016, over and above increases they already will be facing.  That means those families would be paying $15,200 in 2016 for health insurance if the Senate bill passes, and $13,100 if it doesn’t.

His legislation will do nothing to slow the steady climb of health costs.  Families who get health insurance through small businesses will be paying $19,200 in six years, and those working for large firms, $20,100, according to CBO.

And the Obama administration’s own Chief Medicare Actuary estimates that, under the Senate bill, “Federal expenditures would increase by a net total of $279 billion” between 2010 and 2019.

So it would cost families, businesses, and taxpayers more, not less, if his plan passes.

President Obama: “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”

He claims no one will have to change plans, but at the health reform summit, the president acknowledged that the Senate bill could take away the current health insurance coverage for eight to nine million Americans.

The steep cuts in Medicare Advantage that President Obama supports would mean at least one-third of seniors in Missouri, Illinois and 45 other states likely could lose their comprehensive Medicare Advantage coverage as their plans are forced to withdraw from the program, cut their benefits, or raise premiums (three states received sweetheart deals to protect their seniors from the cuts).  In addition, about 10 million people with employer-sponsored insurance could lose their current coverage, according to the CBO.

President Obama says his plan “brings down our deficit.”

No one believes this to be true and for good reason.  The president and congressional leaders employed trillion-dollar budget gimmicks to make this assertion.  CBO, the budget scorekeeper, was cynically given a bill with ten years of tax hikes and Medicare cuts to pay for only six years of new entitlement subsidies.  The IRS would throw ordinary Americans in jail if they used this type of accounting.

In reality, the ten-year cost of the Senate bill is estimated at $2.4 trillion.  The Senate legislation would significantly expand, not shrink, the deficit.

So just on these three examples – keeping your current coverage, lowering costs, and reducing the deficit – the president’s assertions are wrong.  One hopes his St. Louis speech will not employ what we’ve seen from President Obama throughout this debate: using the same arguments that have been proven as inaccurate by independent studies and analyses, and hoping that maybe, just maybe, this time the speech will work.

By Hugh Hewitt Friday, February 26, 2010

It seems very likely that if Obamacare is going to be stopped, it will have to happen in the House. And that means turning some of supporters the deeply unpopular bill into opponents with at least enough spine to tell Nancy Pelosi and the president “No.”

Thus the two lists below. The first list is of all the so-called “Blue Dogs,” the alleged “moderate Democrats” in the House. Many refused to vote for Obamacare the first time around, and they need to be bucked up and made to understand that their hopes of re-election depend upon continuing to stand against the government takeover of American health care and the massive cuts to Medicare on which the takeover is premised.

The second list are the Democrats who voted for the bill in the fall but who hail from swing districts. These are the House members identified by the National Republican Congressional Committee’s ReverseTheVote.org effort. The last thing they want are phone calls and e-mails from voters pledging to throw time and money at their opponents if Obamacare passes.

The Congressional switchboard works for them all – 202-225-3121, but direct calls to their offices and especially their district offices are even more effective. E-mails work as well, but many of their number won’t accept e-mails unless a district zip code is used, which means a little work for the dedicated anti-Obamacare activist. (Just use the zip code of their district office address if you want to communicate despite their filter.)

What matters is a wall of calls between now and the last-ditch effort to push the bill through. Some of the pro-life Demcrats led by Bart Stupak will stay strong and refuse to support the Senate bill with its public funding of abortion, but some will fold. Perhaps a Member or two will vote no as well because there is no “public option” by that name and they realize if they don’t get it now they’ll never get it.

But it will be a very close thing either way. Never have your calls and e-mails mattered more.

Contact The Blue Dogs:

Alabama

Rep. Bobby Bright  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2901
District Phone: Dothan (334) 794-9680; Montgomery (334) 277-9113; Opp (334) 493-9253
Link to E-mail

Rep. Parker Griffith  5th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4801
District Phone: Huntsville (256) 551-0190; Decatur (256) 355-9400; Shoals (256) 381-3450
Link to E-mail

Arkansas

Rep. Marion Berry  1st District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4076
District Phone: Jonesboro (870) 972-4600; Cabot (501) 843-4955; Mountain Home (870) 425-3510
Link to E-Mail

Rep. Mike Ross  4th District
DC Phone: 1-800-223-2220
District Phone: El Dorado (870) 881-0681; Hot Springs (501) 520-5892; Pine Bluff (870) 536-3376; Prescott (870) 887-6787
Link to E-mail

Arizona

Rep. Harry Mitchell  5th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2190
District Phone: (480) 946-2411
Link to E-mail

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords  8th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2542
District Phone: Tucson (520) 881-3588; Cochise (520) 459-3115
Link to E-mail

California

Rep. Mike Thompson  1st District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3311
District Phone: Napa (707) 226-9898; Humboldt (707) 269-9595; Mendocino (707) 962-0933; Yolo (530) 662-5272
Link to E-mail

Rep. Dennis Cardoza  18th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6131
District Phone: Merced (209) 383-4455; (209) 527-1914; Stockton (209) 946-0361
Link to E-mail

Rep. Jim Costa  20th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-9308
District Phone: Fresno (559) 495-1620; Bakersfield (661) 869-1620
Link to E-mail

Rep. Loretta Sanchez  29th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2965
District Phone: (714) 621-0102
Link to E-mail

Rep. Jane Harman  36th District
DC Phone: (202) 225 8220
District Phone: El Segundo (310) 643 3636; Wilmington (310) 549 8282
Link to E-mail

Rep. Joe Baca  43rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6161
District Phone: (909) 885-2222
Link to E-mail

Colorado

Rep. John Salazar  3rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4761
District Phone: Grand Junction (970) 245-7107; Pueblo (719) 543-8200; Durango (970) 259-1012; Alamosa (719) 587-5105
Link to E-mail

Florida

Rep. Allen Boyd  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5235
District Phone: Tallahassee (850) 561-3979; Panama City (850) 785-0812
Link to E-mail

Georgia

Rep. Sanford Bishop  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3631
District Phone: Albany (229) 439-8067; Colombus (706) 320-9477; Thomasville (229) 226-7789
Link to E-mail

Rep. Jim Marshall  3rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6531
District Phone: Macon (478) 464-0255; Dublin (478) 296-2023; Tifton (229) 556-7418
Link to E-mail

Rep. John Barrow  12th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2823
District Phone: Augusta (706) 722-4494; Sandersville (478) 553-9215; Savannah (912) 354-7282
Link to E-mail

Rep. David Scott 13th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2939
District Phone: Jonesboro (770) 210-5073; Smyrna (770) 432-5405
Link to E-mail

Iowa

Rep. Leonard Boswell  3rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3806
District Phone: (515) 282-1909
Link to E-mail

Idaho

Rep. Walt Minnick  1st District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6611
District Phone: Meridian (208) 888-3188; Lewiston (208) 743-1388; Couer d’Alene (208) 667-0127
Link to E-mail

Indiana

Rep. Joe Donnelly  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3915
District Phone: South Bend (574) 288-2780; Logansport (574) 753-2671; La Porte (219) 326-6808; Michigan City (219) 873-1403
Link to E-mail

Rep. Brad Ellsworth  8th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4636
District Phone: Evansville (812) 465-6484; Terre Haute (812) 232-0523
Link to E-mail

Rep. Baron Hill (Co-Chair for Policy)  9th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5315
District Phone: Jeffersonville (812) 288-3999; Bloomington (812)336-3000
Link to E-mail

Kansas

Rep. Dennis Moore  3rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2865
District Phone: Overland Park (913) 383-2013; Kansas City (913) 621-0832; Lawrence (785) 842-9313
Link to E-mail

Kentucky

Rep. Ben Chandler  6th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4706
District Phone: (859) 219-1366
Link to E-mail

Louisiana

Rep. Charlie Melancon (Co-Chair for Communications)  3rd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4031
District Phone: Houma (985) 876-3033; Chalmette (504) 271-1707; Gonzales (225) 621-8490; New Iberia (337) 367-8231
Link to E-mail

Maryland

Rep. Frank Jr. Kratovil  1st District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5311
District Phone: Centreville (443) 262 -9136
Link to E-mail

Maine

Rep. Mike Michaud  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2943
District Phone: Bangor (207) 942-6935; Lewiston (207) 782-3704; Presque Isle (207) 764-1036; Waterville (207) 873-5713
Link to E-mail

Minnesota

Rep. Collin Peterson  7th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2165
District Phone: Detroit Lakes (218) 847-5056; Marshall (507) 537-2299; Montevideo (320) 235-1061; Red Lake Falls (218) 253-4356; Redwood Falls (507) 637-2270; Willmar (320) 235-1061
Link to E-mail

Mississippi

Rep. Travis Childers  1st Districts
DC Phone: (202) 225-4306
District Phone: Tupelo (662) 841-8808; Hernando (662) 449-3090; Colombus (662) 327-0748
Link to E-mail

Rep. Gene Taylor  4th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5772
District Phone: Bay St. Louis (228) 469-9235; Ocean Springs (228) 872-7950; Hattiesburg (601) 582-3246; Laurel (601) 425-3905
Link to E-mail

North Carolina

Rep. Mike McIntyre  7th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2731
District Phone: Lumberton (910) 735-0610; Fayetteville (910) 323-0260; Wilmington (910) 815-4959; Bolivia (910)-253-0158
Link to E-mail

Rep. Heath Shuler (Whip) – 11th DistrictDC Phone: (202) 225-6401
District Phone: Asheville (828) 252-1651; Murphy (828) 835-4981; Sylva (828) 586-1962
Link to E-mail

North Dakota
Rep. Earl Pomeroy
DC Phone: (202) 225-2611
District Phone: Bismarck (701) 224-0355; Fargo (701) 235-9760

Link to E-mail

New York

Rep. Mike Arcuri  24th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3665
District Phone: Utica (315) 793-8146/8147; Auburn (315) 252-2777/2778; Cortland (607) 756-2470
Link to E-mail

Ohio

Rep. Charles Wilson  6th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5705
District Phone: Canfield (330) 533-7250; Marietta (740) 376-0868; Bridgeport (740) 633-5705; Ironton (740) 533-9423; Wellsville (330) 532-3740
Link to E-mail

Rep. Zack Space  18th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6265
District Phone: Dover (330) 364-4300; Zanesville (740) 452-6338; Chillicothe (740) 779-1636
Link to E-mail

Oklahoma

Rep. Dan Boren  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2701
District Phone: Muskogee (918) 687-2533; Claremont (918) 341-9336; McAlester (918) 423-5951
Link to E-mail

Pennsylvania

Rep. Jason Altmire  4th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-2565
District Phone: Aliquippa (724) 378-0928; Natrona (724) 226-1304
Link to E-mail

Rep. Patrick Murphy  8th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4276
District Phone: Bristol (215) 826-1963; Doylestown (215) 348-1194
Link to E-mail

Rep. Christopher Carney  10th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3731
District Phone: Clarks Summit (570) 585-9988; Shamokin (570) 644-1682; Williamsport (570) 327-1902
Link to E-mail

Rep. Tim Holden  17th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-5546
District Phone: Berks (610) 921-3502; Dauphin/Perry (717) 234-5904; Lebanon (717) 270-1395; Schuylkill (570) 622-4212
Link to E-mail

Tennessee

Rep. Lincoln Davis  4th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-6831
District Phone: Columbia (931) 490-8699; Jamestown (931) 879-2361; McMinnville (931) 473-7259; Rockwood (865) 354-3323
Link to E-mail

Rep. Jim Cooper  5th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4311
District Phone: Nashville (615) 736-5295
Link to E-mail

Rep. Bart Gordon  6th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4231
District Phone: Murfreesboro (615) 896-1986; Cookeville (931) 528-5907; Gallatin (615) 451-5174
Link to E-mail

Rep. John Tanner  8th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4714
District Phone: Union City (731) 885-7070; Jackson (731) 423-4848; Millington (901) 873-5690
Link to E-mail

Texas

Rep. Henry Cuellar  28th District
DC Phone: (202) 225-1640
District Phone: Laredo (956) 725-0639; McAllen (956) 631-4826; Rio Grande City (956) 487-5603; San Antonio (210) 271-2851; Seguin (830) 401-0457
Link to E-mail

Utah

Rep. Jim Matheson  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-3011
District Phone: South Salt Lake (801) 486-1236; St. George (435) 627-0880;
Link to E-mail

Virginia

Rep. Glenn Nye  2nd District
DC Phone: (202) 225-4215
District Phone: Hampton (757) 326-6201; Eastern (757) 789-5092
Link to E-mail

The ReverseTheVote.org Target List:

Arkansas

Rep. Snyder –2nd District
D.C. Phone: 202-225-2506
District Office:
Little Rock: 501-324-5941
E-mail link

Illinois

Rep. Mellissa Bean–8th District
D.C. Phone: 202-225-3711
District Offices:
Schaumburg: 847-517-2927

Rep. Bill Foster–14th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2976
District Offices:
Batavia: (630) 406-1114
Dixon: (815) 288-0680
Geneseo: (309) 944-3558
E-mail link

Missouri

Rep. Russ Carnahan–3rd District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2671
District Offices:
St. Louis: (314) 962-1523
Jefferson County: (636) 937-8039
E-mail link.

Nevada

Rep. Dina Titus
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-3252
District Office:
Las Vegas: (702) 387-4941
E-mail link

New Hampshire

Rep. Shea-Porter –1rst District
D.C. Office: (202) 225-5456
District Office:
Dover: (603) 743-4813
E-mail contact

New York

Rep. Tim Bishop–1rst District
D.C. Phone: 202-225-3826
District Offices:
Southampton: (631) 259-8450
Corum: (631) 696-6500
E-mail link

Opponent: Chris Cox.

Rep. Michael Acuri–24th District
D.C. Phone: 202-225-3665
District Offices
Utica: 315-793-8146/8147
Auburn: 315 252-2777/2778
Cortland: 607-756-2470
E-mail link.

Rep. John Hall–19th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5441
District Offices:
Goshen: (845) 291-4100
Carmel: (845) 225-3641 x49371
E-mail link .

Rep. Bill Owens–23rd District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-4611
District Offices:
Watertown: (315) 782-3150
Plattsburg: (518) 563-1406
Mayfield: (518) 661-6486
Canastota: (315) 875-5115
E-mail link

Ohio

Rep. Steve Driehaus–1rst District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2216
District Office:
Cincinnati: (513) 684-2723
E-mail link

Rep.Mary Jo Kilroy–15th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-2015
District Office:
Columbus: (614) 294-2196
E-mail link

Rep. Zach Space
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-6265
District Office:
Dover: (330) 364-4300
Chillicothe: (740) 779-1636
Zanesville: (740) 452-6338 or 1-866-910-7577
E-mail link

Oregon

Rep. Kurt Schrader –5th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5711
District Office:
Salem: (503) 588-9100
Oregon City: (503) 557-1324
E-mail link

Pennsyvania

Rep. Kathy Dalkemper–3rd District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5406
District Office:
Erie: 1-877-528-4948 or (814) 456-2038
E-mail link

Rep. Paul Kanjorski–11th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-6511
District Offices:
Wilkes-Barre: (570) 825-2200
Scranton: (570) 496-1011
E-mail link

Virginia

Rep. Gerry Connolly–11th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-1492
District Offices:
Fairfax: (703) 256-3071
Woodbridge: (703) 670-4989
E-mail link

Wisconsin

Rep. Kagan –8th District
D.C. Phone: (202) 225-5665
District Offices:
Green Bay: (920) 437-1954
Appleton: (920) 380-0061
E-mail contact

A conservative congresswoman is calling for an independent investigation to determine whether President Obama is attempting to trade a federal judgeship for a vote in favor of his healthcare reform plan.

President Obama hosted a closed reception at the White House Wednesday that included ten House Democrats who voted “no” on the healthcare reform bill. One of the ten was Congressman John Matheson (D-Utah), whose brother Scott Matheson, Jr., was nominated Wednesday by President Obama to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Representative Matheson contends that the president did not nominate his brother in exchange for a “yes” vote on healthcare reform. But some Republicans are not buying that claim. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) told CNN’s Larry King that there needs to be an independent investigation into the Matheson matter.
 
“We’ve seen the Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the union loophole, and now the big question is: Is the White House trading healthcare votes for judgeships?” she argued. “This is a pretty serious issue, Larry.”
 
White House officials label as “absurd” the notion that the Matheson judgeship would be tied to a healthcare vote.

So this is what it looks like when a mild-mannered, liberal community activist goes “nuclear.”

President Barack Obama didn’t use the “n” word – or even the “r” word, “reconciliation.” But he made it clear he’s ready to go to Democrat DefCon4, give the partisan launch codes and inflict Obamacare on the American people at any political cost.

In defending his decision to go nuclear, Obama talked about insurance company “abuses.” He talked about premium hikes in California. He talked about a sick mom in Wisconsin. He even talked (in extremely modest ways) about Republican ideas like tort reform and fighting Medicare fraud.

What Obama didn’t mention was Massachusetts.

In fact, despite having given (based on my calculations) some 57,432 speeches, press conferences, pep talks, pillow talks and interpretive dances on health care in the past 12 months, Obama somehow manages to leave us out of nearly every conversation.

This is telling, because we’re the one state already glowing in the radioactive haze of Romneycare, aka “ObamaCare: The Beta Version.”

Shouldn’t Obama have been bragging yesterday about bringing the benefits of Bay State reform to all of America?

As we prepare to wander into this coming nuclear winter of hyper-partisan politics – one in which we’re almost certain to see widespread political fatalities among congressional Democrats – I have to ask: If bringing Massachusetts-style “universal coverage” to America is worth this terrible price, why doesn’t Obama at least mention us once in awhile?

Maybe he thinks of us as the Manhattan Project of medical insurance reform. Too top secret to discuss. More likely, it has something to do with the nightmare results of this government-run debacle. Here are a few “highlights” of the current status of the Obamacare experiment in Massachusetts:

• It’s exploding the budget: Our “universal” health insurance scheme is already $47 million over budget for 2010. Romneycare will cost taxpayers more than $900 million next year alone.
• It’s killing us on costs: Average Massachusetts premiums are the highest in the nation and rising. We also spend 27 percent more on health care services, per capita, than the national average. Those costs, contrary to what we were promised, have been going up faster here than nearly everywhere else.
• It’s creating bizarre marketplace mutations: In Massachusetts, ObamaCare 1.0 is such a mess our governor is talking about imposing draconian price controls. He’s even suggested going to “capitation,” a system where doctors get a fixed amount of money per patient – and then that’s it. Which means it would become in your doctor’s financial interest never to see you again.

All this damage to the taxpayers, the insured and the responsible business owners . . . and for what?

The percentage of uninsured Bay State residents has gone from around 6 percent to around 3 percent.

In other words, it’s a dud.

Read the rest of the column.

From the Washington Examiner

President Obama declared the health care debate over on Wednesday and urged congressional Democrats to take the politically risky step of pushing his newly written compromise reform bill through using a controversial tactic to circumvent a Republican filibuster.

Calling for an “up-or-down” vote, Mr. Obama offered to add a few Republican ideas to the $1 trillion bill, but made clear that the time for talk was over.

“Every idea has been put on the table; every argument has been made,” Mr. Obama said in a speech before an audience of health care professionals in the East Room of the White House. “So now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America’s families and businesses.”

Republicans scoffed at Mr. Obama’s tough talk, vowing to fight the effort at every turn and to tap the American public’s distaste for the measure in the midterm elections.

“They’re making a vigorous effort to try to jam this down the throats of the American people, who don’t want it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.

“We think that’s a policy mistake, and we think resorting to these kinds of tactics, to thumb your nose at the American people, is something that ought to be resisted,” Mr. McConnell added.

At stake is the biggest policy initiative of the year-old Obama presidency, a rewrite of the nation’s health care system that would trim hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, expand Medicaid, mandate that every American join a plan and rewrite rules telling insurance companies how they can operate.

The House and Senate have passed their own versions of bills, but the debate has been stalled for nearly two months after Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate in January.

Now, Democrats are looking to turn to a complex budget procedure known as “reconciliation,” under which legislation can pass the Senate with 51 votes rather than 60.

Read the rest of the column.

By Mitch Daniels

As Washington prepares to revisit the subject of health-care reform, perhaps some fresh experience from Middle America would be of value.

When I was elected governor of Indiana five years ago, I asked that a consumer-directed health insurance option, or Health Savings Account (HSA), be added to the conventional plans then available to state employees. I thought this additional choice might work well for at least a few of my co-workers, and in the first year some 4% of us signed up for it.

In Indiana’s HSA, the state deposits $2,750 per year into an account controlled by the employee, out of which he pays all his health bills. Indiana covers the premium for the plan. The intent is that participants will become more cost-conscious and careful about overpayment or overutilization.

Unused funds in the account—to date some $30 million or about $2,000 per employee and growing fast—are the worker’s permanent property. For the very small number of employees (about 6% last year) who use their entire account balance, the state shares further health costs up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8,000, after which the employee is completely protected.

The HSA option has proven highly popular. This year, over 70% of our 30,000 Indiana state workers chose it, by far the highest in public-sector America. Due to the rejection of these plans by government unions, the average use of HSAs in the public sector across the country is just 2%.

What we, and independent health-care experts at Mercer Consulting, have found is that individually owned and directed health-care coverage has a startlingly positive effect on costs for both employees and the state. What follows is a summary of our experience:

State employees enrolled in the consumer-driven plan will save more than $8 million in 2010 compared to their coworkers in the old-fashioned preferred provider organization (PPO) alternative. In the second straight year in which we’ve been forced to skip salary increases, workers switching to the HSA are adding thousands of dollars to their take-home pay. (Even if an employee had health issues and incurred the maximum out-of-pocket expenses, he would still be hundreds of dollars ahead.) HSA customers seem highly satisfied; only 3% have opted to switch back to the PPO.

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By Hugh Hewitt

President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are embarked on a radical plan to fundamentally change American health care.

The operative term is “radical,” and the media should use that term in order to accurately convey the nature not just of the scope of the changes being pushed, or of the level of Medicare cuts on which those changes are premised, but also to accurately describe the process by which the radical Democrats propose to impose their vision.

The plan is to push Obamacare through the House on the promise of a subsequent “fix” that will use an arcane Senate procedure known as “reconciliation” to modify the health care legislation in order to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote requirement for substantive legislation.

No matter what rhetoric the Democrats employ, this is indeed a radical — there’s that word again — maneuver, one that will demolish forever the Senate’s long-standing tradition of requiring a supermajority to enact sweeping legislation that fundamentally alters an area of complex law. Reconciliation has indeed been used for tax rate changes, which go up and down, and on two occasions for very focused initiatives on welfare reform and continuance of health care coverage.

But reconciliation is a recent and rare exception to the rule of supermajority, and its use here will forever spell the end of the 60-vote requirement for major legislation. If the vast changes contemplated by Obamacare can be pushed through reconciliation, then there is no limiting principle for the future.

Expect both conservatives and liberals to insist that, if the process could be made to fit for Obamacare in 2010, then it surely must be able to accommodate any other fervently hoped for piece of legislation.

Thus in the space of 10 years the Senate Democrats will have re-engineered the supermajority tradition of the “Greatest Deliberative Body in the World” into one that is routinely applied to judicial nominees but waived for the most sweeping, most partisan legislative jam-downs.

With the exception of the bipartisan filibuster of President Johnson’s ethically compromised pick of Abe Fortas as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1968, judicial filibusters were unheard of before 2003.

Though “blue slips” and “holds” did hobble many nominees in committee or on the floor, these procedures are distinct from the requirement of 60-plus votes to pass new laws. As rare as a judicial filibuster was in the last century, so, too, was the use of reconciliation to avoid the requirement of supermajority in law-making. Senate Democrats have trashed both traditions, and both were done in the service of ideology over basic traditions of governance.

Pelosi’s tired talking point about “majority rule” asks the public to dismiss as irrelevant the jettisoning of a long-standing approach to governance that limited the speed with which Congress could act.

This has been a virtue of the American republic since “The Federalist Papers” defended the Constitution’s original design as one intended to keep factions from moving too quickly to dominate politics for short times of abrupt change.

We are not a majority rule system, and never have been. Government’s ability to move quickly was cabined from the start and for the very good reason that sudden swings in law are not often to the advantage of freedom.

If Obamacare does indeed make it into law, the damage it will do to health care will be immense. But just as great a cost will be the injury done to the Senate and to the measured approach to legislation that has marked America as a deliberate and deliberating republic.

Natural experiments are rare in politics, but few are as instructive as the prototype for ObamaCare that Massachusetts set in motion in 2006. The bills for “universal coverage” are now coming due, and it appears the state political class is prepared to do lasting damage to one of America’s top-flight health-care systems.

Last month, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick landed a neutron bomb, proposing hard price controls across almost all Massachusetts health care. State regulators already have the power to cap insurance premiums, which Mr. Patrick is activating. He also filed a bill that would give state regulators the power to review the rates of hospitals, physician groups and some specialty providers. Those that are deemed too high “shall be presumptively disapproved.”

Mr. Patrick ad-libbed that he had “a whole bunch of pals here who are in the health-care field, and I saw the color drain out of their faces.” Little wonder. The administered prices of Medicare and Medicaid already shift costs to private patients while below-cost reimbursement creates balance-sheet havoc among providers. Now the governor wants to import these distortions to save the state’s heavily subsidized insurance program as costs explode.

It doesn’t even count as an irony that former Governor Mitt Romney (like President Obama) sold this plan as a way to control spending. As with all new entitlements, the rolling cost crisis began almost immediately. For fiscal 2010 taxpayer costs are $47 million over budget, in part due to the recession, and while the $913 million Mr. Patrick requested for 2011 is a 5% increase over 2010, spending has grown on average 6.7% per year.

Meanwhile, average Massachusetts insurance premiums are now the highest in the nation. Since 2006, they’ve climbed at an annual rate of 30% in the individual market. Small business costs have increased by 5.8%. Per capita health spending in Massachusetts is now 27% higher than the national average, and 15% higher even after adjusting for local wages and academic research grants. The growth rate is faster too.

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