ONE SIXTH OF THE ECONOMY – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  The Democratic health "reform" plan will take over one sixth of the nation's economy.  Nothing this large has been adopted without bipartisan support since the 19th century.  And how are the Dems proceeding?  It's hard to accept this.  From AP:

WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democrats intend to bypass the traditional joint conference committee when they negotiate a final compromise on health care legislation, officials said yesterday, a move that will exclude Republican lawmakers and limit their ability to force votes that might delay action.

Democratic aides said the final compromise talks would essentially be a three-way negotiation involving top Democrats in the House and Senate and the White House, giving unusual latitude to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

Those officials said there are no plans to appoint a formal House-Senate conference committee, the method Congress most often uses to reconcile differing bills. The plan is to skip the formal meetings, reach an agreement, then have the two bodies vote. A 60-vote Senate majority would be required for final passage.

This is pretty outrageous.  It's machine politics at its worst.  It tends to confirm the theory discussed in a previous post today, that the Democrats are obsessed with ramming through as much left-wing legislation as they can before taking losses in the November election. 

The unofficial timetable calls for final passage of the measure to remake the nation’s health care system by the time President Obama delivers his State of the Union address, probably in early February. GOP leaders have vowed to try to block a final bill from reaching Obama.

COMMENT:  I doubt if this bill can be defeated.  The "moderate" Democrats have all but collapsed, although they could put up a fight on public funding for abortion in the House.  In the end, though, the moderates tend to fold and vote with the liberals, to keep their ability to function in Congress. 

January 5, 2010