Why? Here’s why:
Though President Obama and Democratic leaders have repeatedly pledged to alter the soaring trajectory — or cost curve — of federal health spending, the proposals so far would not meet that goal, (CBO chief) Elmendorf said, noting, “The curve is being raised.” His remarks suggested that rather than averting a looming fiscal crisis, the measures could make the nation’s bleak budget outlook even worse.
Elmendorf’s blunt language startled lawmakers racing to meet Obama’s deadline for approving a bill by the August break. The CBO is the official arbiter of the cost of legislation. Fiscal conservatives in the House said Elmendorf’s testimony would galvanize the growing number of Democrats agitating for changes in the more than $1.2 trillion House bill, which aims to cover 97 percent of Americans by 2015.
A lot of Democrats want to see more savings, said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), who is leading an effort to amend the bill before next week’s vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee. “There’s no way they can pass this bill on the House floor. Not even close.”
A lot of House Democrats are staring at the abyss of the 2010 mid-terms…while Nancy Pelosi seems to think that her majority is permanent, those Democrats who have to run for re-election in GOP or GOP-leaning districts realize that Obamunism is political kryptonite. Even if Pelosi manages to hold on to her majority after passing job-killers like “cap and trade” and Obamacare, moderate Democrats will find that cold comfort as they are giving their concession speeches.
And here we have, once again, that Obama demand that we rush it through. He wants this by the August recess. I’ve started seeing campaign ads asking people to call their Senator to demand that we rush, rush, rush Obamacare through because it simply must happen right away. As to just why, that remains un-stated – though the implication seems to be that people will die if we don’t ram this through like there’s no tomorrow. I believe, though, that the ability to rush through 1,000+ page bits of legislation is waning – there’s already been two such things and the American people (especially election-deciding Independents) are starting to have a sinking feeling in their stomach that we’re be forced into socialism even though no one voted in favor of such a thing this past November.
We can stop them – remember, we stopped Hillarycare in 1993 when we were in the Congressional minority, so we can do it again. The key will be moderate Democrats – they are where we’ll have to apply pressure.
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