1/09/2010

If Republican were to win Massachusetts Senate Seat, Democrats would delay him being seated so that Health Care takeover would be passed

This must upset a few people in Massachusetts. Democrats don't care how the people vote. They will stretch out the process as long as possible to ensure that health care gets passed. From the Boston Herald.

Few have considered the Jan. 19 election as key to the fate of national health-care reform because both Kirk and front-runner state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee, have vowed to uphold Kennedy’s legacy and support health-care reform.

But if Brown wins, the entire national health-care reform debate may hinge on when he takes over as senator. Brown has vowed to be the crucial 41st vote in the Senate that would block the bill.

The U.S. Senate ultimately will schedule the swearing-in of Kirk’s successor, but not until the state certifies the election.

Today, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is overseeing the election but did not respond to a call seeking comment, said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.

“Because it’s a federal election,” spokesman Brian McNiff said. “We’d have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in.”

Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 - well after the president’s address.

Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said today a victorious Brown would be left in limbo. . . .

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3 Comments:

Blogger James D. Miller said...

This would look so bad that I doubt all 59 of the Senate Democrats would go along.

What's more likely to happen if the Republicans win in Mass would be for the House to approve the health care bill that passed the Senate so there would be no more need of a new Senate vote.

1/09/2010 12:33 PM  
Blogger Paul Gordon said...

One thing that remains consistent with these people; whenever you think they've hit absolute rock bottom and could not possibly act any lower, you get proven wrong.

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1/09/2010 12:49 PM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Thanks for the input, Professor Miller. Given that you live there, I will definitely take your word for it. However, it is strange that they are even talking about doing something like that. I hope that you are doing well.

1/09/2010 2:21 PM  

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