By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
They may have been completely blown out at the polls last year, but Senate Republicans aren't forgetting they still have a bit of sway in Congress. They're using their power as the loyal opposition to slam the brakes on Democratic plans to ram through an expensive array of programs from national health care to education to climate change legislation:
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell praised the Senate for having "slammed the door on using the fast-track process to jam through a new national energy tax" that Republicans say will cost families $3000 a year in higher energy costs.
The 26 Democrats who voted against using the special rules are mostly fiscal conservatives or are from states whose economies rely on energy production and might be negatively impacted by the expensive global warming policy.
Stop an "expensive global warming policy," you say? Now wait a minute. I'm fine with taxing the heck out of profligate energy users. But nationalized health care? No matter what the administration wants to call it, covering all uninsured Americans is still nationalized health care. And that is something most Americans don't want shoved down their throats.
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