Senator DeMint Promises to Delay Health Care Vote, Force Members Back the Day After Christmas

Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has promised to do whatever it takes to hold up Harry Reid’s health care bill.

The Hill reported:

Sen. Jim DeMint said Thursday he is prepared to use every procedural tool to delay a vote on the Democratic healthcare legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning to schedule votes around the clock over the next week to meet a deadline of passing the bill by Christmas. Without the cooperation of Republicans, the marathon schedule would end with a vote on Christmas Eve.

Reid hopes that Republicans will waive some of the procedural formalities so senators are not forced to spend the evening before Christmas milling about the Senate floor.

But DeMint (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee and a leader of the conservative opposition, told The Hill he will not yield back any time.

DeMint also said he would force the Senate to return to Washington after Christmas to vote on a $290 billion increase to the federal debt limit. Treasury officials told lawmakers that they need an increase of borrowing authority to keep the government solvent beyond Dec. 31.

“I’m not going to waive any time,” DeMint said in an interview, when asked whether he would force Reid to go late into Christmas Eve to pass healthcare legislation. “I think it’s our responsibility to stretch this out because every day we do we have time to tell Americans what’s in it.”

DeMint said Democrats hope “they can pass it before Americans know what’s in it, while people are thinking about Christmas and being with their families.”

Senate Democrats concede that they will have to return to Washington between Christmas and New Year’s Day to pass the increase in the federal debt limit if a single GOP member objects to expediting that vote.

DeMint made clear he will not cooperate.

“We’ll be back here the day after Christmas if Democrats want it,” said DeMint.

[...]

Thank you, Senator DeMint. Keep it up!

The article goes on to describe the Senate rules which will have Senators voting in the middle of the night and early in the morning between now and Christmas. That wouldn’t be necessary if Harry Reid wasn’t trying to ram this through by Christmas. It’s insanity.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.