Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants. The threat of 41 committed Senators can cause the House to modify its desires even before legislation comes to a vote. Without that restraining power, all of the following have very good chances of becoming law in 2009 or 2010. Medicare for all -- Wall Street J., “A Liberal Supermajority,” October 17, 2008 If Obama wins with veto-proof majorities in both Senate and House, doubts and discussions about health-care will be ended. We will have "Hillary Health Care" with minor revisions to mold it to Obama health-care. That means universal health-care with a single payer as in Canada , where it is widely recognized as a failure but never changed. Obama wants employers to provide health-care insurance -- many now do -- for all their employees, or pay a fine. A parallel system, probably government-run, would arise for workers in firms that do not provide insura...

“There are reality checks when you put a fiscal note to a bill,” said House Speaker James Amann, a Milford Democrat. “There are some ideas that are so unattainable, so far out of reach, that you have to have a reality check.” Mr. Amann was here referring to Universal Health Care , a euphemism for state socialized medicine. The price tag put on the legislative bill for Universal Health Care by the Connecticut’s non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis was a cool $18 billion, a number that sent chills up and down the spines of both legislators and the not easily spooked members of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. “Even we were quite shocked [by] the enormity of the cost. ... A lot of people are just scratching their heads and saying, ‘Wow!’” said CBIA associate council Eric George. The $18 billion figure is just a touch more than Connecticut’s two year budget. But not everyone was scratching their heads and placing their hands over their wallets, mumbling as they did so, ...