Top Republican Warns Against Forcing Through Health Change
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A top Republican in Congress warned Monday that using a legislative tactic to pass a Democratic health-care bill opposed by Republicans would increase public anger over partisan politics.
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the third-ranking House Republican, told a CNN editorial board meeting that an American public already unnerved by the economic recession wants unified action on major issues such as health care.
Some Democrats are calling for President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders to use a tactic called reconciliation to pass a desired health-care overhaul. While Democrats hold a majority in both chambers of Congress, it is unclear if they control enough seats to overcome opposition from all Republicans and some Democrats.
Under reconciliation, which applies to bills affecting the federal budget and deficit, a measure requires a simple majority of 51 votes to pass in the Senate, rather than the super majority of 60 votes needed to overcome an opposition filibuster.
Cantor said the public anger displayed at some town-hall meetings on health care would worsen if Democrats force through a bill using reconciliation.
“If they use … the reconciliation option, it would necessarily mean that a bill proceeding under those rules is not a bill representing the mainstream of this country,” Cantor said, adding such a move would make it harder for Obama to make further progress. “This president was elected to bring people together, to bring a divided nation back together,” Cantor said. “I don?t think taking that kind of action would really help” reverse the partisanship of recent years.
Cantor complained that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have rejected Republican ideas or participation on major legislation. “The last eight months have been ‘my way or the highway,’” Cantor said.
It appears that the Cantor tactic is to try to obstruct progress in any way possible, deploy the angry “grassroots,” and then blame the Democrats. What “Republican Ideas” is Cantor referring to?