Remember when Obama kept saying government healthcare deserves an up or down vote? That was before they realized they don’t have the votes for it. Obamacare in the form of the Senate Bill currently up for consideration in the House would lose in an up or down vote in that body. How can I be so sure of that? Because nothing that is happening now would be happening if it were not so.

Now that it appears the votes to pass the Senate Bill in the House are not there, the new strategy is to do something that can be made to look like it was passed when it actually was not put to a vote standing on its own. So the plan now is to craft a package that will consist of a “reconciliation” bill containing a bunch of add-ons to the Senate Bill. The so-called add-ons won’t be made a part of the Senate Bill, however. The two bills will simply be shrink wrapped into one package and voted on together. Get it? Two separate and distinct bills, one vote. Then, assuming the package passes, the Senate Bill will be presented to Obama for his signature into law, and the add-on bill sent to the Senate for it to act upon. But at that point, the Senate Bill will become the law of the land. The add-on bill will then die in the Senate when the senate refuses to act on it. That’s my prediction, and I’d bet that’s just what the Democrat leaders want and expect.

This is unconstitutional because the Senate Bill is not being voted on as a separate bill, and Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution requires the identical bill be passed by both Senate and House before being presented to the President. If the House made any change at all in the Senate Bill it would have to go to conference between the two bodies before and the conference bill passed by both houses before presentation to the President. Passing a completely different bill with the Senate Bill “deemed” to have been passed at the same time, is not passing the identical bill that was passed by the Senate. It’s different in both substance and form. Here the Senate Bill was passed by the Senate but will not be passed by the House, except as part of a package with another bill. So both houses are not passing the identical bill. The Democrats hope this is too complicated for the American people to figure it out. Pelosi is said to have scheduled the vote for next week.

In the last 8 hours Obamacare has surged over 20 points into the high 60’s on Intrade [It’s at 65 as of 9:00 am MTN Saturday morning]. Those betting their own money think the Democrats are going to get away with this outrage. I suppose they will get away with it in the sense of getting the Senate Bill to Obama for him to sign. But that’s like saying a bank robber got away with it because he got the money and made his getaway. It’s still an open question as whether he will get away with robbing the bank.

I hear that the members of Congress will go back home and tell their constituents that they never voted for the Senate Bill, they only voted for the add-ons that were supposed to fix the worst parts of it. If so, that shows just how stupid they believe their constituents to be.

We could say it will be a pyrrhic victory for the Democrats because a lot of them are going to fall into the pit they are preparing for us. But a massive new entitlement program in the middle of uncertain economic times will be a drag on the economic growth that is needed to move the country out of recession. The Senate Bill makes all the new taxes and increases in existing taxes effective immediately, even though the substantive provisions for changing the health system don’t start to kick in for at least three years, and more even later. A pyrrhic victory for them yes, but also a very bad result for America.

This will be the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such a major and fundamental change will be forced down the throats of the American people against their will. Heretofore, the American people have generally gotten what they have wanted. Social Security, Medicare, and every other major entitlement had majority support at the time they were enacted. This is new, but not improved.

From, Constitution Butchers: Stop Pelosi’s Slaughterhouse

Go to Free Our Health Care Now for a quick and easy way to email your congressman, who will be identified by your zip code, as well as the 39 blue dogs who voted against the House Bill.