Using reconciliation to pass major legislation liike health care reform is:
Undemocratic
“The misuse of the arcane process of reconciliation—a process intended for deficit reduction—to enact substantive policy changes is an undemocratic disservice to our people and to the Senate’s institutional role.”
–Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, an expert on Senate rules and procedures, in a March 23, 2009 interview with Ezra Klein of the Washington Post.
Opposite of bipartisan
“That would be the Chicago approach to governing: Strong-arm it through. You’re talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan. You’re talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River.”
–Senate Budget Committee ranking Republican Judd Gregg in the same Post interview.
Hijacking process to facilitate unsustainable debt
“Reconciliation is therefore the wrong place for policy changes . . . . In short, the reconciliation process appears to have lost its proper meaning. A vehicle designed for deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility has been hijacked to facilitate reckless deficits and unsustainable debt.”–Part of a 2005 statement by then Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
Just won’t work
“Reconciliation cannot be used to pass comprehensive health care reform. The major package would not be done through reconciliation…. I am the chairman of the committee in the Senate, and I think I understand how reconciliation works and can’t work.”
–Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, in a Feb. 28 appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
