Great news: White House working on its own health-care bill now
posted at 5:56 pm on September 4, 2009 by Allahpundit
Consider this a formal admission by The One that his decision to let Congress take the lead on crafting a bill was an epic, epic fail.
Multiple sources close to the process tell CNN that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday.
As previously reported by CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash and CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry, the so-called trigger option remains very much on the table.
Under a ‘trigger option’, a new government-run health care plan would only go into effect if insurance companies fail to meet certain affordability standards with their own plans…
Sources expect the president to emphasize the message: If Congress passes something now, it will serve as a foundation to pass further reform in the future.
Let no one doubt that he’s deadly serious about passing this: Only a man who’s truly committed would take the wheel of a car headed off a cliff. And yet, there’s some shrewd — and ominous — logic to that boldfaced part. Evidently he’s concluded that the liberals in the House mean business about not supporting a bill that lacks a public option so he’s going to promise them one down the road, whether via the “trigger option,” some alternative plan, or more treacherously, the simple legislative inertia towards expansion once a government program is up and running. No wonder Harry Reid and Obama’s union cronies are suddenly talking up compromise.
Karl made the point yesterday that no Democrat except Obama has a strong incentive to accept a “trigger” compromise, but I’m not sure that’s true. Progressives know that there’s a bad moon rising over next year’s midterms and that this may be their last chance for years to pass some form of universal health care. If the town halls proved anything, it’s that Americans are ferociously suspicious of any statist encroachment on health care; the trick at this point is to break through that resistance by any means necessary and at least establish a policy foothold. Maybe it’ll turn into a public option (or, gulp, single payer) down the road or maybe the GOP will be swept into Congress and undo it all next year, but their dream died once 15 years ago and it’s on life support again now. Anything they can do to keep it alive, in whatever form, is probably a victory. Expect the liberals to play ball.
Blowback
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Lets see…. if the Insurance companys do not do what we want, we will trigger somthing which will force them out of business…
Isn’t that a Bill of Attainder?
Romeo13 on September 4, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Oh, geez what will San Fran Nan do?
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Either way, he wants to control the insurance companies. The guy is dangerous.
cubachi on September 4, 2009 at 5:57 PM
You own it now.
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 5:57 PM
And that worked out so swell for Bill and Hill, didn’t it?
Enoxo on September 4, 2009 at 5:57 PM
ROFL
RedNewEnglander on September 4, 2009 at 5:58 PM
Well, at least they are working on something besides dinner parties.
bridgetown on September 4, 2009 at 5:59 PM
umm…no
ernesto on September 4, 2009 at 5:59 PM
I call it ObamaSham, Wow
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Two pages…..
Page one, take the red pill.
Page two, take the blue pill.
HornetSting on September 4, 2009 at 6:00 PM
When…oh when…will Allahpundit learn to use the Enter Key when typing a wall of text?
Ejasz on September 4, 2009 at 6:00 PM
The more Obomber talks, the more he tunes out reasoned, sensible Americans. Everyone’s bull$shit detector is at a hair trigger setting. So I don’t think anything he says is going to have an effect.
KILL THIS BILL
J.J. Sefton on September 4, 2009 at 6:00 PM
This idea of a “trigger” has had me screaming at the TV all day.
No way, no how, not ever should be our motto on this public option.
Elizabetty on September 4, 2009 at 6:01 PM
They know this is their last shot given the defits and total debt on the horizon. Expect no let up and plenty of misdirections to get single payer implemented.
WashJeff on September 4, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Usually when a man grabs the wheel of a car going off the cliff…there is a tremendous crash…people in the car get hurt.
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 6:01 PM
This is just insanity. Keep on doing what you did before and expecting a different result.
What makes Obama think he can write a more odious bill than Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman? He’s a piker compared to them.
BetseyRoss on September 4, 2009 at 6:02 PM
No conservative should compromise one bit with this president.
I drew a line in the sand with my children’s school on the Big Brother speech on Tuesday. I told them that was exactly what it was. I don’t care about the content of the speech, but I’ll decide whether or not a president, governor, legislator, jailer or dog catcher talk to my kid when they’re part of captive audience. Not the school. Not the Department of Education.
It’s my freakin’ Alamo. Every conservative should stand behind that line.
Do not compromise with leftists.
Ampleforth on September 4, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Sort of O/T, but my BIL posted this on facebook:
Anyone have a good response?
Esmerelda on September 4, 2009 at 6:02 PM
who cares waht it is called, it is the Dems intent. They will overburden the health insurance companies with regulations that failure is insured (no pun).
WashJeff on September 4, 2009 at 6:02 PM
bill of attainder (writ of attainder): A legislative act finding a person guilty of treason or felony without a trial.
Ummmm… yes.
TMK on September 4, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Barack Obama, working for America by repealing the laws of supply and time demand and time and space….
because “I want the bill on my desk by recess” really means “I uh ah um will have it ready by mid september…”
Barack Ogabe-working hard to work you over.
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Really? A bill of Attainder is a bill which Punishes an individual or group, without their first breaking any law.
Lets see…. Insurance industry, do what we want, or we drive you out of business…
Sounds pretty dang close to me.
Romeo13 on September 4, 2009 at 6:04 PM
He’s already linked to hr3200. the Obamacare moniker is there for ever, whether he formed it or not. From here on out he only looks like he’s weaseling around to avoid getting gobsmacked. Too late.
Fighton03 on September 4, 2009 at 6:05 PM
No compromise…let him drive over the cliff. We’ll pick up the pieces and BO will be a POTUS without a country.
d1carter on September 4, 2009 at 6:05 PM
The issue has become toxic to all but a few true-believers. Let Obama stand there and try say “Here’s what I really meant by healthcare reform.” In doing so he just adds weight to the anchor pulling him down.
innominatus on September 4, 2009 at 6:05 PM
It was planned this way all along.
darcee on September 4, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Will it be written on the back of a Long John Silver’s child menu?
Chuck Schick on September 4, 2009 at 6:05 PM
“Nobody should ever have to get a blister because they had to walk the five feet to get the newspaper either, support Universal levitation Training….we are the little green men we’ve been waiting for”
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 6:06 PM
There are specific constitutional provisions against Bills of Attainder. VERY specific.
Fighton03 on September 4, 2009 at 6:06 PM
How about “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” as well.
redshirt on September 4, 2009 at 6:06 PM
My guess if he goes with this trigger idea, it will back fire due to the mistrust of government. It will be easy to get people to think, correctly, that this is a trojan horse.
WashJeff on September 4, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Does TOTUS have air bags?
Knucklehead on September 4, 2009 at 6:07 PM
I can’t trust this. I don’t trust anything this administration does. Please God, let us have several weeks, (days?) to read it and find the cleverly hidden path to Gov’t health care. You know it will be there.
anniekc on September 4, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Which one of his czars are going to author this catastophe?
fourdeucer on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
NOW they’re working on something??!?!? These people have no shame.
LASue on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
So, Obama doesn’t know the difference between Legislative and Executive powers now? Shouldn’t law creation be left to the two houses of Congress?
thomashton on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Sorry, Barry. You’ve used up all your trust, and your benefit-of-the-doubts too. Now finally we know who you are. We know whatever you propose will be no more than a Trojan horse for a gubmit takeover of health care. KILL THE BILL. KILL THE BILL. KILL THE BILL
petefrt on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Maybe that would have worked earlier, but now people are talking about the WH trying to get something to reform later. I don’t see it getting public opinion behind it. And that’s the re-election threat, isn’t it?
Spirit of 1776 on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
The Congressional liberals have said they will not back a “trigger.”
Enoxo on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
I WISH beyonf wishing that the constitution was inforced. It is not. The argument to win this in the public arena is that the trigger option is a trojan horse, a slight of hand.
WashJeff on September 4, 2009 at 6:08 PM
How about the fact that it’s illegal in the United States to deny individuals medical care?
amerpundit on September 4, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Anything with Obama’s finger prints on it MUST BE REJECTED! No compromises!
elduende on September 4, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Part 1 – That’s what ER’s are for
Part 2 – That’s what catastrophic insurance is for
Rejoinder – No one should wait for treatment due to a government burecrat (spelling)
Rogue on September 4, 2009 at 6:10 PM
If that is true, than Obama must choose who to fight: to his left or to his right.
WashJeff on September 4, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Correct it is a companion to the founders’ resitance to ex-post facto changes to the law prosecution as well….
Bill of attainder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.
Origin
The word “attainder”, meaning “taintedness”, is part of English common law. Under English law, a criminal condemned for a serious crime, whether treason or felony (but not misdemeanor, which referred to less serious crimes), could be declared “attainted”, meaning that his civil rights were nullified: he could no longer own property or pass property to his family by will or testament. His property could consequently revert to the Crown or to the mesne lord. Any peerage titles would also revert to the Crown. The convicted person would normally be punished by judicial execution as well – when a person committed a capital crime and was put to death for it, the property left behind escheated to the Crown or lord rather than being inherited by family. Attainder functioned more or less as the revocation of the feudal chain of privilege and all rights and properties thus granted.
Due to mandatory sentencing, the due process of the courts provided limited flexibility to deal with the various circumstances of offenders. The property of criminals caught alive and put to death because of a guilty plea or jury conviction on a not guilty plea could be forfeited, as could the property of those who escaped justice and were outlawed; but the property of offenders who died before trial, including those killed during the commission of crimes, could not be forfeited, nor could the property of offenders who refused to plead and who were tortured to death through peine forte et dure.
On the other hand, when a legal conviction did take place, confiscation and corruption of blood sometimes appeared unduly harsh for the surviving family. In some cases (at least regarding the peerage) the Crown would eventually re-grant the convicted peer’s lands and titles to his heir. It was also possible, as political fortunes turned, for a bill of attainder to be reversed. This might even happen long after the convicted person was dead.
Unlike the mandatory sentences of the courts, acts of Parliament provided considerable latitude in suiting the punishment to the particular conditions of the offender’s family. Parliament could also impose non-capital punishments without involving courts; such bills are called “bills of pains and penalties”.
Bills of attainder were sometimes criticized as a convenient way for the King to convict subjects of crimes and confiscate their property without the bother of a trial—and without the need for a conviction or indeed any evidence at all.
The first use of attainder was in 1321 against the Earl of Winchester and the Earl of Gloucester, who both shared the name Hugh le Despenser (Where both were attained, not for opposing the King, but for supporting the King) and the last in 1798 against Lord Edward FitzGerald for leading the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
In England, those executed after the passing of attainders include George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (1478), Thomas Cromwell (1540), Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1540), Catherine Howard (1542), Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley (1549), Thomas Howard (1572), Thomas Wentworth (1641), Archbishop William Laud (1645), and the Duke of Monmouth. In the case of Catherine Howard, in 1541 King Henry VIII was the first monarch to delegate Royal Assent, to avoid having to assent personally to the execution of his wife.
After defeating Richard III and replacing him on the throne of England, Henry VII had Parliament pass a Bill of Attainder against his predecessor.
Although deceased by the time of the Restoration, the regicides John Bradshaw, Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and Thomas Pride were served with a Bill of Attainder on 15 May 1660 backdated to January 1, 1649 (NS). After the committee stages the Bill of Attainder passed both the Houses of Lords and Commons and was engrossed on 4 December 1660. This was followed with a resolution
That the Carcases of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw, and Thomas Pride, whether buried in Westminster Abbey, or elsewhere, be, with all Expedition, taken up, and drawn upon a Hurdle to Tiburne, and there hanged up in their Coffins for some time; and after that buried under the said Gallows: And that James Norfolke Esquire, Serjeant at Arms attending the House of Commons, do take care that this Order be put in effectual Execution.
This also passed both Houses on the same day.[1][2][3]
Making a law that targets only SOME of the insurance companies in an ex-post facto way as they will almost have to do to not irritate their HMO donors will be a defacto Bill of Attainder….
be interesting to watch “wise Latina” use her innate and racial wisdom and empathy to ignore precedent….
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 6:10 PM
thomashton on September 4, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Crap. Didn’t close the quote. Why oh why can’t we edit?
thomashton on September 4, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Esmerelda,
I have been seeing that for the past two days.
No one should go hungry and no one should lack clothing or a warm and safe place to live, but the government is not the appropriate instrument for guaranteeing these good things. Basic needs should not become government entitlements because what the government gives it controls and what it controls it can take away.
darcee on September 4, 2009 at 6:12 PM
No one should have a bureaucrat making their health decisions, no one should be forced off their private plans, and no one should have their health care rationed by the government. And certainly no one should be forced to pay to insure people who make a conscious decision not to buy insurance.
amerpundit on September 4, 2009 at 6:12 PM
DO NOT GIVE IN UNTIL IT IS DEAD!
We have the momentum and must keep going.
jukin on September 4, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Will Obama’s Obamacare also have the IRS running the program…?
Seven Percent Solution on September 4, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Yep, that’s pretty much where he is.
He can either fight the American people, or he can fight his kooks.
I’ve a feeling he’s going to fight the American people.
Enoxo on September 4, 2009 at 6:13 PM
O/T
Who broke Ace’s?
Rogue on September 4, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Ever the optimist, eh Allahpundit?
Skandia Recluse on September 4, 2009 at 6:13 PM
This bunch reminds me of the old comic books where the mad scientist had all his test tubes bubbling as he watched with a sinister snarl on his face. You can bet that whatever they are brewing it will be one disgusting mess.
rplat on September 4, 2009 at 6:14 PM
I blame Bush. Ace inherited this problem from Bush.
amerpundit on September 4, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Let that trigger work both ways. If congress can’t get the budget back to 2005 levels by 2014 they are automatically ousted when the health care trigger is pulled. And I don’t care who is in office at the time either.
DanMan on September 4, 2009 at 6:14 PM
I’m going to go with Charles Johnson. Ace has been cramming a large stick up Charles’ rear for most of the morning over his stance on Jones.
Enoxo on September 4, 2009 at 6:15 PM
FIFY.
TMK on September 4, 2009 at 6:16 PM
It’s like setting a brand new target up in front of a shooter who has just spent the last two months zeroing in his scope.
aquaviva on September 4, 2009 at 6:16 PM
It’s a bloody moon…from those California fires – the fires the Goreball Warmers are conveniently not mentioning since they’re putting more CO2 in the air than all the cars in the western U.S.
whitetop on September 4, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Very nice. I used it, just saw it once today. Seems the libs are busy today…..I think someone overdosed the Koolaid last night.
HornetSting on September 4, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Esmerelda, go here for a great response.
libertas on September 4, 2009 at 6:17 PM
My concern is that a numer of lily-livered RINOs are desperately searching for an excuse to give Obama what he wants — this may give them enough to go along.
Its more important to them that they be liked and seen as cooperative by their Democrat “friends” than it is that they adhere to Republican/Conservative/American principles — and their constituents, and America’s, best interests and wishes.
johnsteele on September 4, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Trigger Option = Public Option
Changing the name doesn’t change their socialist objective.
Who will police this? What the hell are “certain affordability standards”?
They’re making this up as they go folks.
fogw on September 4, 2009 at 6:18 PM
I DO not care WHO, aka bho, gives a new health bill. This sucks and kill it! Our bho needs to take another ‘time out’ and decide if he and his team needs to go. I am hoping his rating go down 4 points.
BTW, did you all see Glenn today?
L
letget on September 4, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Snort. I can only imagine what kind of boondoggle the WH will cobble together in a matter of days. Can it possibly be worse than what’s already out there? Probably.
scalleywag on September 4, 2009 at 6:18 PM
the Uber-banning has commenced…
Rogue on September 4, 2009 at 6:19 PM
Easy mend it. With mighty putty.
Fletch54 on September 4, 2009 at 6:20 PM
We need a trigger lock
faraway on September 4, 2009 at 6:20 PM
My concern is that a numer of lily-livered RINOs are desperately searching for an excuse to give Obama what he wants
johnsteele on September 4, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Maybe just one. Olympia Snowe
fourdeucer on September 4, 2009 at 6:22 PM
FIFY
The Precedent is a political suicide bomber. He strapped on his suicide vest on Jan 20th. He’s committed to killing the US. That’s about it.
progressoverpeace on September 4, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Will there be a trigger for the Death Panels too?
Firing squad or neck shot?
Norwegian on September 4, 2009 at 6:26 PM
LGF has been more anti Glenn Beck than Van Jones it seems. All he does is beat on the right.
Or creationism…
redshirt on September 4, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Snowe has been helping with this and Rahm is a big fan of the “trigger” pathway. I could see McCain hopping on board. Bipartisanship is a seductive temptress to those GOPers so inclined.
a capella on September 4, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Who do they have in the WH to do the work and/or come up with anything different than what Congress did?
The WH remora are as or more marxist than Congress. Chances of them seeing anything differently…I don’t think they can. With all the blather laid on at the town halls, there are few alternatives THE PUBLIC will accept.
Olympia Snowjob, that’s a different thing, but she will still have to reckon with an electorate fed to the eyeballs with crap and not at all happy of it.
Harry Schell on September 4, 2009 at 6:31 PM
If Chuckie J doesn’t know how transparent his other moonbattery is, he’ll never understand how crystal clear his eagerness to bash Beck looks when compared to his reticence to bash Van Jones.
TMK on September 4, 2009 at 6:34 PM
I say kill any bill that comes down. A trigger is just a way for them to pass the legislation they want at a later date. Obama cannot be able to claim any amount of victory on this. We have to stop it.
TXMomof3 on September 4, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Obamacare try and. Fail.
Key West Reader on September 4, 2009 at 6:35 PM
TWO WORDS: BRING IT!!!
The lying Marxists in the White House and the Bootlickers in the Media (and the organized SEIU/ACORN/MOVEON Mob) will be in full tilt.
Wait till word gets around the internet about another Czar (this one WANTS YOUR ORGANS BY MANDATE).
Google: Cass Sunstein, organs
or maybe: Harold Koh, Sharia Law
Keep doing the medias job…….Lord knows they don’t do it.
PappyD61 on September 4, 2009 at 6:36 PM
She wants to fix Health Care. Build New Jobs. No Government Checks. Huh? For Obama.
Key West Reader on September 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Someone needs to sit B.O. down and tell him the way things are.
His healthcare plan is a total failure.
No one in the country wants it.
He should just forget the whole thing, cut his losses and move on.
Because if he pushes this thing any further, it will end up a total disaster, for himself and the Democrats.
Not saying this would be a bad thing, of course.
pilamaye on September 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Reality check – the Dems have the votes to pass this in both the house and senate. Pelosi will allow enough of the blue dogs to peal away for cover but have enough to pass it. Reid will get Snowe to agree and allow a few conservative dems to peal off and pass it with about 55 votes and claim it’s not ‘going nuclear’ because it’s ‘bipartisan’.
This pig has already been mapped out folks.
It will be signed in October by Obama.
tatersalad on September 4, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Our nation should not go bankrupt providing a ‘service’ it has not right to provide. Nationalized healthcare will go bankrupt. Medicare is walking down that path with ~35 trillion in debt and haemorrhaging hundreds of billions of dollars a year in fraud (not to mention the waste it has otherwise). Every nationalized healthcare system in the world rations care and provides subpar care to those fortunate enough to get it. Simply put nationlized healthcare will not produce the utopian ideal of no one will die because of denied care.
Also, the same argument could be made for many things. Do you want people to go without shelter? Do you want people to go without food? Do you want people to go without jobs? The answer is not more government.
gwelf on September 4, 2009 at 6:39 PM
What the heck happened to Charles Johnson and little Green Footballs?
I haven’t been there in months and every single post is bashing Conservatives.
Elizabetty on September 4, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Nah. This Country was formed by Patriots who will not stand by silently and watch her destroyed from within. Freedom is not free. So, you have to stand up and do what you have to do. Either way, wer’e going to be fine. Dude.
Key West Reader on September 4, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Lizard semen.
Key West Reader on September 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Actualy, with Kenndey’s death, no they don’t.
It takes 60 votes to cut off debate in the Senate… they have only 59 unless a Republican joins them.
Romeo13 on September 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Allahpundit found an acorn.
They will do everything they can to get the camel’s nose under the tent.
Anything.
Strap on your hardware. They’re coming back!
notagool on September 4, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Actualy, with Kenndey’s death, no they don’t.
It takes 60 votes to cut off debate in the Senate… they have only 59 unless a Republican joins them.
Romeo13 on September 4, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Reid will go Nuke, but claim it’s not really because they have a Repub (Snowe)on board…that will allow it to pass without 60 votes.
tatersalad on September 4, 2009 at 6:45 PM
No one should die because they rationed health care, and no one should go broke because they get taxed to death to pay for an inefficient government monopoly. If you agree with this non-partisan thought, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.
Greed on September 4, 2009 at 6:45 PM
It will be the same program, but the parts will be renamed to sound more pleasing.
Reid, Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats and Media (who have already been briefed by the White House on this health program idea and are working on their stories in coordination with the White House) will all claim Obama is a genius; with this health care plan he has shown once again he is the Messiah of hope and change and the Democrats will ram this through.
The following days after the big speech Obama will be scheduled for “exclusives” on every liberal-leaning news and talk TV show…Olbermann and Chris Matthews will even tear up and cry during their interviews with Obama overwhelmed by his greatness.
albill on September 4, 2009 at 6:46 PM
Reptile sailors?
thomasaur on September 4, 2009 at 6:48 PM
The insane are, by definition, the last to know it; if ever.
Time for Chuckles to be netted, bagged and tagged.
Geochelone on September 4, 2009 at 6:51 PM
He is speaking on the 9th, right? When 500,000 or more show up on the 12th in DC and hundreds of thousands more rally around the country, then we shall see what we shall see. I think DC is going to be huge!
Willie on September 4, 2009 at 6:54 PM
but the news will only show the 4 kooks with deth to obma posters. Saying turnout was not that large.
Greed on September 4, 2009 at 6:59 PM
I’m sure whatever healthcare plan Obama comes up with won’t be a Marxist trojan horse
elduende on September 4, 2009 at 7:00 PM
No – he will be a POS without a country…
and he will be damned lucky if he get’s to keep something else.
He will write a bill to “trigger” something alright….
izoneguy on September 4, 2009 at 7:05 PM
Marxist trojan JACKASS
izoneguy on September 4, 2009 at 7:05 PM
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