The Founding Fathers created a Republic, but 60 Senators are poised to take it away.
With the pending disaster of the passage in the Senate of a bill nationalizing one sixth of the U.S. economy and our entire healthcare system at a cost of over $2.5 trillion, we are faced with a crucial question: are the Republican senators using every means at their disposal to stop the looming, tyrannical abuse of power?
Unfortunately, the answer appears to be "NO!"
This healthcare bill is the most intrusive, most damaging, most costly, more dangerous bill to the economic and personal freedom and liberty of individual Americans that congress has ever considerate.
If there is any bill that deserves being stopped by shutting down the Senate, it is this one!
The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, has parliamentary rules and procedures that give the minority the ability to stall legislation. In fact, unlike the House, the minority has the ability to virtually paralyze the Senate.
There are a whole series of parliamentary maneuvers that could be used by Republican senators to stop this healthcare bill.
How could this be done?
Freedom Of Speech contacted former Senator Birch Bayh a well known Constitutional Scholar and a Constitutional attorney, and here is some key points in his response:
* To start with, they should STOP constantly agreeing to "unanimous consent" requests from the Democrats.
* If the Republicans want the news media to cover what they are doing to educate the American people even further about the atrociousness of this bill, they have to create drama on the floor of the Senate. And the only way to do that is through an all-out fight with NO holds barred.
'They need to look like Braveheart, fighting to the end to save freedom. Because, in fact, it is our very freedom and liberty that is at stake!"
The most powerful words in the Senate are "I object." Senate Republicans should have been shouting those two words on the Senate floor early and often from the moment this bill was considered, instead of the complete silence we have heard - other than to constantly agree to conduct business through unanimous consent. Here are just a few ways these words can [and should] be used in a very effective way:
* The rules of the Senate require that a quorum be present to transact business. A quorum is 51 Senators.
* If a Republican Senator suggested the absence of a quorum, Democrats could not transact business on the bill. It is common courtesy to allow the quorum call to be dispensed with, without requiring 51 members to show up on the Senate floor [we've been told to get 51 Senators to appear without a roll call vote is very time consuming].
* When the Democrats ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with, the Republicans shout immediately shout "I object!"
* If at any moment at least 50 Democrats are not on the floor, a Republican Senator could again suggest the absence of a quorum and start the process over again, causing huge delays in the legislative process being able to move forward.
* No amendment can automatically or without substantial delay receive a roll call vote without every member of the Senate agreeing. Again, the Senate generally operate on collegial courtesy, but a $2.5 trillion courtesy is too much!
* Once an amendment is pending, it only takes one Senator to step in front of this freight train. If a Senator objects to ending debate on the amendment or having the amendment set aside, the majority must file cloture on the amendment. First cloture has to ripen and it cannot ripen until the next day's session of the Senate, so that kills a day of the majority's time. Assuming 60 Senator's voting in favor of ending debate, the Senate is then required to spend 30 hours of its session time before voting on final passage for the amendment.
Bayh states, Senators have an obligation to protect the Constitution and the budget and points of order can be raised on both. He points out that numerous bill provisions, particularly the individual mandate, are unconstitutional. Under the Senate's rules, constitutional points of order are debatable. The Republicans should be constantly bringing up constitutional points of order, one after another, or even questionable provision.
The healthcare bill violates 425 (a)(2) of the Budget Act, which prohibits consideration of any legislation that contains an unfunded intergovernmental mandate in excess of $69 million per year.
We asked former Senator Birch Bayh, what the Republicans should do, and this is his reply:
The Republicans should be offering one amendment after another on all of their favorite issues such as guns, abortion, elimination if the death tax and ending the TARP program. Nothing connotes trench warfare like non-germane amendments on hot-button social issues.
When I look back at all the great filibusters of past decades, they almost always involved non-germane, explosive amendments on contentious social and other issues. Republicans should be offering hundreds of such amendments on every topic and using the rules to force votes on every single one. And the Republicans should be forcing the reading of the bill and every single amendment, not consenting to waiving that requirement.
Source: former Indiana Senator Birch Bayh
Freedom Of Speech would like to say:
Some might argue that Republicans should not look like "obstructionist."
But they are wrong - the vast majority of Americans don't like this bill and don't want it to pass. The Tea Party movement was the upheaval of millions of ordinary Americans who are scared and angry about the out-of-control growth of the federal government, federal spending, and the national debt.
We want to see the Republicans obstructing passage of this bill and if we think the Republicans are not fighting with every tool they have at their disposal, then any advantage that the Republicans think they will get in next years elections from such a bill being passed will evaporate.
If they don't start acting forcefully quickly and immediately, not only will they allow the country's future to be unalterably damaged, they will be hastening the end to their own careers in the elections coming down the road faster than they can imagine.
Finally, we often hear that Senators express frustration when we dare to tell them how to fight, and that their frequent refrain is "you just don't understand how the Senate works." Actually some of us understand better than they do how it should work [whether they agree with every particular parliamentary tactic described], and the current frustration they feel with us will be nothing like what they may feel if they don't stop this bill at all costs and act to preserve our Republic!
Kill the Bill, McCain...or we will vote you republicans out also!!!!!
