I'll leave it to the polibloggers to dissect the partisan aspects of this (not to mention its viability), but a few thoughts strike me. That it will pass the House, I have little doubt. Once it hits the Upper Body, however, it faces (at least) two significant parliamentary hurdles:
1) 61 votes to invoke cloture
2) 50+1 votes to pass
If the first is accomplished, what doubt is there of the second?
But as to that second, the calculus is, um, interesting:
There are now 47 Republicans in the Senate. If one assumes (and this is, perhaps, a leap of faith) that they vote en bloc, they're still 4 shy of the required 51 votes to pass. So the question becomes: are there perhaps 4 Democrat Senators, facing re-election either 2 or 4 years hence, who can be persuaded to vote for repeal?
ADDED: Saw this at one of the aforementioned polibloggers:
"Eliminate the exemptions. That will make them squeal."
Yup.
COURTESY OF MICHELLE MALKIN: The "ObamaCare© Waiver For The Rest Of Us" bill:
HR__-Repeal -
1) 61 votes to invoke cloture
2) 50+1 votes to pass
If the first is accomplished, what doubt is there of the second?
But as to that second, the calculus is, um, interesting:
There are now 47 Republicans in the Senate. If one assumes (and this is, perhaps, a leap of faith) that they vote en bloc, they're still 4 shy of the required 51 votes to pass. So the question becomes: are there perhaps 4 Democrat Senators, facing re-election either 2 or 4 years hence, who can be persuaded to vote for repeal?
ADDED: Saw this at one of the aforementioned polibloggers:
"Eliminate the exemptions. That will make them squeal."
Yup.
COURTESY OF MICHELLE MALKIN: The "ObamaCare© Waiver For The Rest Of Us" bill:
HR__-Repeal -
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