There seems to be a belief by some that government-run healthcare is a done deal. It is not.
Before the use of Reconciliation even can be initiated in the Senate, House Democrats must pass the Senate Bill.
Congressman Pomeroy has actually become more and more assertive in his declaration of opposition to the use of reconciliation - while this is likely due to the fact that recent polls show both Rick Berg and Kevin Cramer extremely competitive in head-to-head matchups with Pomeroy.
Pomeroy spoke at a news conference in Bismarck on Friday. Both the U.S. House and Senate have approved health care bills, but the overhaul effort is now in limbo.
Pomeroy says he wouldn't vote for either the House or the Senate bill now if they came up for final approval.
A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.
"Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.
"Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter whether or not the Senate passes changes to its health care bill via reconciliation. That's because the reconciliation process cannot even begin until after the House passes the Senate bill exactly as it passed the Senate on Christmas Eve. That means it must pass with the abortion language already rejected by Rep. Bart Stupak and others still intact. It also must pass with the outrageous pork barrel spending deals cut for Nebraska, Louisiana, Connecticut, and others. In other words, the bill must pass the House with everything in it that the American people have already made clear they hate.
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North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, put it pretty bluntly: "I don't know of any way, I don't know of any way where you can have a reconciliation bill pass before the bill that it is meant to reconcile passes. I don't know how you would deal with the scoring. I don't know how I could look you in the eye and say this package reduces the deficit. It's kind of got the cart before the horse."
So the question is:
Will Congressman Pomeroy stick to his word and vote against the Senate Bill?
Help make it an easy decision for Congressman Pomeroy
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And call the Congressman at (202) 225-2611.
DakotaBeacon