Beginning
on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads
in part: "... it shall not be in order in the
Senate or the House
of Representatives to
consider any bill, resolution, amendment or
conference report that would repeal or otherwise
change this subsection."
In
other words, if President Obama signs this measure
into law, Reid intends that no future Senate or
House will be able to change a single word of
Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans
or their representatives in Congress wish
otherwise.
Note
that the subsection at issue here concerns the
regulatory power of the Independent Medicare
Independent Advisory Board to "reduce the per
capita rate of growth in Medicare spending."
That
is precisely the kind of open-ended grant of
regulatory power that effectively establishes
the IMAB as the ultimate arbiter of the cost,
quality and quantity of health care to
be made available to the American people.
And Reid wants the
decisions of this group of unelected federal
bureaucrats to be untouchable
for all time!
No
wonder the majority leader tossed aside assurances
that senators and the public would have at least
72 hours to study the text of the final Senate
version of Obamacare before the critical vote on
cloture. And no wonder Reid was so desperate
to rush his amendment through the Senate, even
scheduling the key tally on it at 1 a.m., while
America slept.
True
to form, Reid wanted to keep his Section 3403
poison pill secret as long as possible, just as he
negotiated his bribes for the votes of Sens. Mary
Landrieu, of Louisiana, Ben
Nelson, of Nebraska, and Bernie
Sanders, of Vermont, behind closed doors.
The
final Orwellian touch in this subversion of
democratic procedure is found in the ruling of the
Reid-controlled Senate parliamentarian that the
anti-repeal provision is not a change in Senate
rules, but rather of Senate "procedures.
" Why is that significant?
Because
for 200 years, changes in the Senate's standing
rules have required approval by two-thirds of
those voting, or 67 votes rather than the 60
Reid's amendment received.
Reid
has flouted two centuries of standing Senate rules
to pass a measure in the dead of night that no
senator has read, and part of which can never be
changed. If this is not tyranny, then what
is?
Ray
Bures
2403
Prairie School Road
Ely,
Iowa 52227