READ IT: GOP Senator Pens Obstruction Manual For Health Care

[Are_grits_groceries]

Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform -- and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.

Insisting that it is "critical that Republican senators have a solid understanding of the minority's rights in the Senate," Gregg makes note of all the procedural tools the GOP can use before measures are considered, when they come to the floor and even after passage.

He highlights the use of "hard quorum calls for any motion to proceed, as opposed to a far quicker unanimous consent provision. He reminds his colleagues that, absent unanimous consent, they can force the Majority Leader to read any "full-text substitute amendment." And when it comes to offering amendments to the health care bill, the New Hampshire Republican argues that it is the personification of "full, complete, and informed debate," to "offer an unlimited number of amendments -- germane or non-germane -- on any subject."

The details of Gregg's outline are a clear reflection of the extent to which Republicans are turning to the Byzantine processes of the Senate chamber as a means of holding up reform. And doing so with eagerness. Take for instance, the section on offering a "point of order."

Read the ways they will obstruct HCR: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/read-it-gop-senator-pens_n_377386.html

These rules aren't new. It would have been nice to see the Dems use them in the last 8 years. That said, it is more than obvious that the Rethugs will do anything to stop President Obama. I doubt this will be the last time we see these tactics.

I hope there is a way to smack them and move the bill. If there is, I hope the Dems aren't too nice to use it.

Bipartisanship? Meh!

[sharp_stick]

1. So I see ol' Judd

is still trying to get himself back in the good graces of his buddies Eric Cantor and the tanned asshole John Boehner. The only thing that surprises me about this is that some people seem surprised by this.

Yet one more reason to add to the massive pile of reasons I hate the fucking republicans.

I just wish that the Dems could instill some of the discipline in their ranks that the GOP asks for and gets from theirs. This big tent policy and allowing all kinds of views is nice but every now and then I'd like to see some blood of the floor at the end of a caucus meeting. The first blood spilled could be Joe Lieberman's and I'd be damned happy. If they could figuratively find a way to gibbet him the way they used to do in England as an example to other potential obstructionist assholes that would also be good.