Anyone who thought Republicans were going to go quietly in the face of reconciliation really hasn’t been paying attention to the national political debate. And that’s none of us, right? But now there’s a new angle brought forward by "newly-bi-partisan" Senator Lindsay "Huckleberry" Graham working with Senator Charles Shumer.
Senators give Obama a Bipartisan Plan on Immigration
The 3-page "blueprint" includes:
...tougher border security, a program to admit temporary immigrant workers and a biometric Social Security card that would prevent people here illegally from getting jobs.
Graham also said the proposal included "a rational plan to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States." He did not elaborate on what the plan would be. But in a recent interview, he suggested that onerous measures were unrealistic.
But there’s a catch:
Graham predicted that their effort would collapse if Senate Democrats proceeded with a strategy to pass a healthcare bill through a simple majority vote -- a process known as "reconciliation."
...
"For more than a year, healthcare has sucked most of the energy out of the room. Using reconciliation to push healthcare through will make it much harder for Congress to come together on a topic as important as immigration."
Not much attention has been paid to immigration issues since healthcare has taken over all debate. And advocates say Latino voters have become impatient after having been a large part of Obama’s victory. Predictably, the president welcomed the "framework" and encouraged the bi-partisan effort.
I can’t help but think of Charlie Brown and Lucy and the football. Giving up on reconciliation (and ensuring the defeat of the healthcare bill) is not likely to start a new era of cooperation any more than "starting over" on healthcare is going to yield a better, all-encompassing agreement to fix our broken system.
The "Do-Nothing" Democratic Congress (and Administration) has been the fault and the claim-to-fame of Republicans halfway through the 111th Congress and it’s hasn’t cost them any troglodyte votes. And, right or wrong, the claim will be made again and again in all national races, come fall when any "new" healthcare will have failed and Huckleberry's "blueprint" comes up sadly lacking anything substantive. Frankly, I wouldn’t doubt that their 2010 campaign signs have already been printed.
We need healthcare reform now, by the votes of both parties or only one.