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This is the second in a series of updates from Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), a member of the House Budget Committee.

On Monday, the Budget Committee will hold a reconciliation hearing on the Senate-passed health care reform bill.  In short, this reconciliation hearing is a parliamentarian “trick” used to pass legislation through a series of rules which limit debate and the ability to offer amendments to the underlying legislation.  The Democrat majority is using reconciliation because of the overwhelming opposition to the Senate-passed bill, as they continue to ignore the will of the American public who has made it clear they do not support this legislation.  Whether it is the $1 trillion price tag, $500 billion in Medicare cuts, rationing of health care, or an unprecedented expansion of the federal government that will put Washington bureaucrats directly between doctors and patients as they make health care decisions, a majority of Americans continue to oppose health care reform in its current state and the use of reconciliation to pass it.  

As recently as 2007, then-Senator Obama firmly opposed the reconciliation process “Under the rules, the reconciliation process does not permit that debate. Reconciliation, is therefore the wrong place for policy changes ... in short, the reconciliation process appears to have lost its proper meaning. a vehicle designed for deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility has been hijacked...”

Earlier this month Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said today that reconciliation ‘…won't work. It won't work because it was never designed for that kind of significant legislation.”

After Monday’s Budget hearing, we anticipate the House voting on passage of the bill by the end of the week.  As we move forward, I am committed to working with my Republican colleagues to defeat this legislation that will cause irreparable harm to our personal liberties, national debt, and our nation’s health care system.