The Last Hours of Sanity (UPDATE: BILL PASSES SENATE, 60 to 39)

The United States Senate will be voting, tonight (roughly 8 pm, Eastern time) on its 2,074-page version of ObamaKare, submitted as HR 3590. The House already passed its version on November 7th by a rather narrow 220 to 215 vote. According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the bill would cost $15,000 in 2016. The bill also comes with some nasty teeth, as well -- which you need to see and read.

But, as Texas Fred points out -- and I agree -- the Fix is Already "In" and these are, frankly, the Last Hours of Sanity in the United States.

How is the Fix "In," you might ask? In broad daylight, as ABC News Jonathan Karl writes:

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.)

Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu.

How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.

The payoffs, the BRIBES, are written into the bill itself. It's that easy.

Many people mistakenly believe the vote tonight will simply be about "passage" of HR 3590. It's more complicated and insidious than that. The vote tonight will likely be about a "motion to invoke cloture."

What is cloture? I wrote about this tactic here, on the 15th. Literally, it is "A parliamentary procedure by which debate is ended and an immediate vote is taken on the matter under discussion. Also called closure."

Cloture is a way to end debate or filibuster, essentially having the ability to ramroad ObamaKare through the Senate. This could potentially do away with conferences, etc. It is very much a "nuclear option" and could have serious ramifications for those voting so. Cloture -- "Rule 22" in the Senate -- is quite the high risk/high gain move.

Instead of an original 2/3rds vote, in 1975 the US Senate reduced the number of votes needed to invoke cloture to three-fifths (60) of Senate membership.

That is another reason why the number "60" is so important in terms of Senatorial power. Wield a constant 60+ votes and you can pretty much have your way in the US Senate.

How do you get your 60+ votes? The Demorats just write their bribes into the bill itself.



Even prior to the vote, the "gag orders" were in effect. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke, above, on the Senate floor decrying reports that a senator asked the Dept. of Health and Human Services to investigate a health insurance company that dared to warn its customers about potential Medicare cuts under Democrat health care legislation.

This is just the First Strike, ladies and gentlemen. But it's a huge strike and it's Going Nuclear right off the bat. This is, I believe, one of the most important posts I've ever written.

Enact cloture. End debate. Silence opposition. Do it NOW.

All in order, I fervently believe, to enable the Cloward-Piven Strategy. You want to know Mr Obama's ultimate goal and agenda? Read about it here.

BZ

UPDATE:

The Senate bill passed on a 60 to 39 vote. There will be debate on the bill come November 30th. Two final Demorat holdouts, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, voted yea. This is no shock. Demorats have united to hold off the GOP filibuster.

FURTHER:

The Washington Post writes that Capitol Hill staffers are calling it "The Louisiana Purchase."

That is to say:

And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote -- and to trumpet the financial "fix" she had arranged for Louisiana. "I am not going to be defensive," she declared. "And it's not a $100 million fix. It's a $300 million fix."

Sorry folks. I was off on my bribe mark by $200 million dollars.

I guess politicians in Louisiana are a tad bit more expensive than I originally calculated.

BZ