A Modest Suggestion for Senator Orrin Hatch

Senator Hatch is belly-aching about the possibility of the Democrats using reconciliation to fix some of the problems with the current Senate Health Care Reform Bill (which passed the Senate and could be signed into law IF passed intact by the House…but changes could be made by a process that cannot be filibustered):

GOP Senator Orrin Hatch is now warning that if Dems pass health care reform via reconciliation it will lead to permanent “war” between the two parties — even though he voted for more than a half dozen GOP bills passed through the process known as…reconciliation.

Here’s Hatch, in an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, claiming that if Dems use reconciliation it would constitute one of the most despotic acts in the history of the republic:

Hatch said Thursday that using reconciliation would be “one of the worst grabs for power in the history of the country” that would permanently impact relations between the two parties.

“It is going to be outright war and it should be, because it would be such an abuse of the reconciliation rules,” Hatch said. “If they abuse those rules it is going to lead to even more heated animosities between not just the two parties, but even between individual senators.”

Which is interesting, because Hatch voted for…

And there are 7 times when he did; all are budget related, and the aspects of this HCR bill that would be subject to reconciliation would be.

Here is an idea Senator Hatch: why doesn’t your party quit abusing the filibuster rules to block everything that you don’t like? Unfortunately, it is your party that will take its ball and go home every time you don’t completely get your way.

But go ahead and throw yourself on the ground and hold your breath, if you must.

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