Posted by
Defend America on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 10:41:04 AM
Did McConnell really 'surrender' in health care debate?
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
12/23/09 9:36 AM EST
Some
commentators have accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of
caving to Democratic pressure by agreeing to hold the vote on final
passage of the national health care bill on Christmas Eve morning as
opposed to the originally-planned 7 p.m. "Mitch McConnell Surrenders,"
reads one blog headline. "McConnell Weasels Out," reads another.
But according to a well placed GOP Senate source, it was Majority
Leader Harry Reid who approached McConnell in hopes of holding the vote
earlier, and McConnell, who was prepared to go ahead with the evening
vote, got some key concessions from Reid in return for agreeing to move
the vote up a few hours.
There's no doubt that McConnell, with just 40 Republican votes,
holds the weak hand in negotiating with Reid. But according to the
source, in exchange for agreeing to hold the vote on Christmas Eve
morning instead of evening, McConnell got Reid to agree to hold a
high-profile debt-limit vote next month -- just before the president's
State of the Union address -- instead of burying the issue later, as
Democrats had wanted. In addition, McConnell got Reid to agree to
showcase a number of deficit-related Republican amendments, forcing
Democrats to vote on issues they had hoped to avoid.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Did-McConnell-really-surrender-in-health-care-debate-79979727.html