On Jan 21, 2010, at 1:47 PM, Joseph Catron wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 1:26 PM, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com>
> wrote:
>
> Many other well meaning people think we could pass major legislation
> by
>> using the reconciliation process. But that is limited to expanding or
>> contracting existing programs. You can't create new ones.
>>
>
> Could you expand on this? How tightly-defined are "programs" for our
> purposes here? I can think of few aspects of our existence in which
> the
> federal budget does not have a finger - certainly not health care!
> Could any
> of the proposals under consideration not be cast as "expansions or
> contractions" of the endless web of existing subsidies and
> regulations?
Expansion of Medicare (even as far as "Medicare for All" alias single payer) would absolutely qualify. Medicare is an existing program, and nobody will try to deny its budgetary implications!
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos