Rush to Pass Reconciliation Bill Would Embarrass Sausage Makers

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There is an old saying, generally misattributed to Otto von Bismarck, that “Laws are like sausages—it is best not to see them being made.” Today, even sausage makers are embarrassed.

After months of bickering and backroom maneuvering, the Democratic party leadership replaced their 2,400-page reconciliation bill with a 1,700-page bill last week, and then substituted a 2,100-page bill yesterday with a vote planned for today. Paradoxically, these leaders have decided that the shellacking their party received at the polls in Virginia and New Jersey this past Tuesday gives them license to restore items that some of their own members announced were deal-breakers.

The fact is, no one believes that House members have read these bills in their entirety or have any idea what is in them. Passing the reconciliation bill would be the height of irresponsibility and cynicism.

The reconciliation bill is not some million-dollar demonstration project that will have limited impact one way or the other. It is a multi-trillion-dollar monstrosity that will balloon the deficit, discourage work and marriage, and cripple the economy.

There is no emergency to pass this bill. Leader Pelosi should pause to allow evaluation of the proposal by the Congressional Budget Office and others and to give her members time to actually read what they are voting on.