As it becomes increasingly more apparent that Democrats are going to attempt to amend the already-passed Senate bill through a process known as reconciliation, Republicans are suddenly deciding they don't like reconciliation. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), for example, recently claimed that if Democrats use reconciliation, it will "end the Senate as a protector of minority rights." As the chart below shows, Senator Alexander (and many other current Republican Senators) haven't seemed bothered by reconciliation in the past (data below thanks to Greg Sargent).
I have a full breakdown by GOP Senator at http://www.thefourthbranch.com (I can't get the coding to appear here despite my best efforts). Nevertheless, the table below sums up the high points:
Senator Name | Percent of Senator's Votes Cast FOR Reconciliation Measures |
Alexander | 100.0 |
Barrasso | 100.0 |
Bennett | 91.7 |
Bond | 78.6 |
Brownback | 100.0 |
Bunning | 85.7 |
Burr | 66.7 |
Chambliss | 100.0 |
Coburn | 66.7 |
Cochran | 66.7 |
Collins | 88.9 |
Corker | 100.0 |
Cornyn | 100.0 |
Crapo | 100.0 |
DeMint | 66.7 |
Ensign | 100.0 |
Enzi | 88.9 |
Graham | 75.0 |
Grassley | 85.7 |
Gregg | 83.3 |
Hatch | 85.7 |
Hutchinson | 78.6 |
Inhofe | 81.8 |
Isakson | 100.0 |
Kyl | 100.0 |
Lugar | 92.9 |
McCain | 64.3 |
McConnell | 71.4 |
Murkowski | 100.0 |
Roberts | 88.9 |
Sessions | 88.9 |
Shelby | 78.6 |
Snowe | 72.7 |
Thune | 66.7 |
Vitter | 66.7 |
Voinovich | 71.4 |
TOTAL AVERAGE | 84.6 |
NOTE: Senators Brown, Johanns, Risch, LeMieux and Wicker have not had the opportunity to vote on a reconciliation bill and, thus, are not included in the table above.
For all reconciliation votes on which current GOP Senators have voted, Republicans have supported reconciliation 84.6% of the time. Senator Alexander, who fears minority protection in the Senate will end if reconciliation is used, has voted FOR reconciliation bills 100% of the time (4 opportunities to vote on reconciliation bills, 4 votes cast for reconciliation). Senator McCain has supported reconciliation bills less frequently than any other current GOP Senator, but even he has voted FOR reconciliation bills 64.3% of the time (9 of the 14 times he has been presented with a reconciliation bill).
There is absolutely nothing new about using reconciliation in the Senate. More to the point, there is absolutely nothing inappropriate about using reconciliation for this specific bill. Republicans know all of this, obviously, but they also know what Senator Conrad is learning: reconciliation isn't particularly easy to explain in a 15-second sound bite on the Sunday news shows. They are attempting to derail democratic (small "d" on purpose) attempts to pass health insurance reform through obfuscation and obstinacy. It's high time they were called on it.
Check us out at http://www.thefourthbranch.com
UPDATE: A prior version inadvertently omitted Senators Chambliss and Cochran. That has now been fixed, and the percent of Republican support for reconciliation bills moved from 84.9% to 84.6%.