Democrats are OK with changing the rules of the game to pass their agendas. But when it comes to Republicans using the same rules, Democrats warn of impending doom in order to defeat Republicans.
For example, former Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, is now warning in a video by Moveon.org that if Republicans win the Senate they will pass their right-wing agenda using….wait for it….DUN Dun dun….RECONCILIATION!
Ok I don’t blame you if didn’t watch it. In short, reconciliation is a Senate rule that allows passage of a budget bill with a simple majority, bypassing the normal process that requires 60 votes.
It’s also been dubbed the ‘nuclear option’ in the past.
So lets fast-rewind back to 2010 for a sec and read a quote by the same Mr. Reich who wrote an article in the Huffington Post:
“My free advice to the president: If you want to get health care enacted you must use reconciliation and quickly…
Explain to the American people you understand their impatience. The Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate to pass legislation. A majority will do. That’s called democracy.”
Of course we know that the Senate did use reconciliation on Obamacare, even though it wasn’t a budget bill. They violated the rule of reconciliation in order to pass Obamacare with a simple majority (or ram it down our throats) and Robert Reich was a major advocate of this.
But now, when Democrats are about to lose the Senate, he warns against Republicans using reconciliation – even properly – to pass their right-wing destructive agenda. What’s good for the goose is not good for the gander if you’re a hypocritical Democrat.
For more past hypocrisy of Democrats on reconciliation, read here.