Why is Harry Reid Covering Up a Secret Senate Filibuster?

The Huffington Post reports that Harry Reid is working the phones because he's "just one or two Senate votes shy of having a filibuster-proof majority in favor of a public option for health insurance coverage with a provision allowing states to opt-out."

"One or two votes shy?" That means Reid is allowing members of the Democratic caucus to threaten a filibuster behind closed doors and dictate what will be in the bill he brings to the floor, but he won't tell the public. It's the "silent filibuster" we've been warning about. I guess you and I don't need to know who is conducting it, because we're not a member of the exclusive club who decides whether we get affordable health care or Wellpoint gets a giant taxpayer-funded bailout. We're just supposed to take Reid's word for it.

Here's the truth: there are 51 members of the Senate who are on record saying they'll vote for a public option. That's a majority. You don't need 60. The 60 votes are needed for a procedural vote -- "cloture" -- that would bring a bill to the floor and allow an up-or-down vote. If they can't get those 60 votes, it's called a "filibuster." It used to be a rare occurrence, and traditionally, it's the opposition party who filibusters to stop a vote from taking place.

The "deal" Reid is cutting to keep these unidentified Senators from joining in a GOP filibuster against their own caucus would weaken it significantly. The "opt out" would endanger health care affordability in states controlled by Republican governors or legislatures, and even Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds has said that he would opt-out if elected in Virginia. The CBO says that public option insurance premiums would be 11% cheaper than private insurance, a savings of $1400 a year for a family of four. Those mandated costs would get passed on directly to residents of those states in Reid compromise to earn the votes of Democrats he won't name.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on what the opt-out means for her state:

Then we're not providing the necessary competition and choice for Americans in those states....In my state we've got 10 Democrats and 15 Republicans and a split on our Senators. I wouldn't want to be duking it out with the rest of my delegation on who wins, on whether or not we do or don't participate in the public option. And I certainly wouldn't want Charlie Christ to be able to make the decision. And he is our governor.

If the public option -- something 84% of Nevada Democrats want -- doesn't make it to the floor, Reid owns it. Even caucus members who are not keen on a public option like Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Tom Harkin, Jeff Bingaman, Tom Carper and Mary Landrieu voted to give George Bush and up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito -- then voted against his confirmation.

Is Reid so weak he can't enforce the same courtesy for a Democratic bill?

Either Harry Reid enforces caucus discipline on this one or it becomes the model for every single piece of legislation that comes before the Senate from hereon in. It guarantees that every bill is written by the caucus's most conservative members. It gives the power to the corporations to pick off those most easily compromised by lobbyist money, through which they can then write our laws. If the Democratic caucus has 60 votes and all 60 votes are needed for any measure to pass from hereon in, all it will take is one Senator to privately say they are willing to gum up the works and they've got all the power.

And you? You're not even allowed to know which Senator is doing it. Thanks to Harry Reid.

It's Reid's choice to include a public option or not in the final bill he brings to the floor. He doesn't need the vote of a single Senator. If he is cutting secret deals in smoke filled rooms to water down the public option and protect those caucus members who won't publicly say they'll join a Republican filibuster, he's not credible as anything other than Wellpoint's hatchet man until he's willing to names names.

 

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Comments

[H321]

So Lieberman is willing to out themselves but Harry will protect these other obstructionists?

Transparency? What's that?

[AJLester]

If Reid's really is cutting the kind of deals you're suspecting in those "smoke filled rooms", then it's not tobacco smoke they're inhaling. They're probably all DUI (Dickering Under the Influence). And who do you suppose the "dealer" of all that influence really is? The Big Insurance lobby.

Opt-out, opt-in, no matter how things turn out, Big Insurance is going to pull through unscathed and stronger than ever. They've proven they can peddle their influence effectively and completely unhindered on the national, state, and local levels on every healthcare issue that's come along in the past 15 years. They'll eat those state governors for lunch. And that'll just make them stronger. Ultimately, their monopolistic positions are going to make them harder to stop than ever. So, how's about some reasonable anti-trust efforts against Big Insurance? Or is the timing off on that one?

[tweedledeedumb]

I want to see it on the evening news...shame them.

[lordjin]

what insight. Yet again.

Thank you, Jane Hamsher.

[MaryscottOConnor]

L-a-n-d-r-i-e-u

N-e-l-s-o-n

B-a-y-h

L-i-e-b-e-r-m-a-n

W-y-d-e-n

B-a-u-c-u-s

[DonRoberto]

I understand the other names on your list, but why are you including Wyden? To the best of my knowledge, he has been leading much of the fight for a public option.

[MaryscottOConnor]

I messed up.

(My first version of this answer was censored, for some reason -- I said it in another was.)

[DrBillo1]

Screw this up Reid and look to make your farewell speech as majority leader!!!

[dizmo4]

GOP Governors aren't nearly as crazy as their elected members of Congress.

[bigsexyshaq]

Are you sure about that?

[DonRoberto]

I'd put it differently --- crazy governors have to deal with the same laws and same political realities as sane governors, so they usually come up with sane (or at least, sane-ish) solutions.

Crazy Congresspeople, not so much.

[fedupwithpolitics]

Personally, I don't care if Alabama and Mississippi opt out--it's up to the citizens of those states to vote Democratic if they want the public option. But the rest of us should not be held hostage to a few Neanderthal states. Public option--with or without the opt out--is necessary!

[ObamanextPresident]

I don't understand this listing of Senators against the public option....

"Even caucus members who are not keen on a public option like Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln, Tom Harkin, Jeff Bingaman, Tom Carper and Mary Landrieu "

Tom Harkin is a ...huge... proponent for the public option and Jeff Bingaman says he is for it also.

The others are traaaaitors that's true.

[PIN News]

Ried doesn't have the votes, and he knows it. He is just trying to make it look like he tried, in order to save his neck.

Looks like the defeat to cloture all over again. It wasn't close!

http://politicalintegritynow.com/2009/10/sen-byrd-d-helps-block-cloture-may-be-key-to-stopping-obamacare/

[MadMarv]

Deeds and Virginia should think twice about "opting out" of a public option. As a business owner in the state, I'll happily move to an "opt in" state if it saves me some of the almost 20K a year I have to pay for insurance. Why do I have less of a right to a public option than someone in New York or Maryland?

[skippypicasso]

Let states "opt out" of the public option. We'll see what happens in future elections.

[HeavyHitter]

Agreed. The people responsible for opting out will soon have egg on their faces. They'll be opting out of their jobs.

[aview999]

Thanks Jane. You are someone we surely need to cut through the bullsh*t.
Screw Harry. He has no right to keep HC from the majority who want it.

[DonRoberto]

Ms. Hamsher, you are a master (as we all must be nowadays) at deriving useful intelligence from what is not said and what is not reported. Thank you for a great post.

[delphillips]

Reid should be doing press conferences shaming Republicans into voting for cloture by yelling "we just want an up or down vote." Isn't this the tactic the Republicans used every time the Dems threatened a filibuster?

I used to be a Democrat, but now I see that Democrats are truly weak and spineless!

Oh..and don't rejoice, Dear Republicans, because you won't be getting my vote either.