Via ThinkProgress, I see Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is taking a sanguine and, dare I say, democratic, view of the budget reconciliation process.
“It’s their right. They did win the election,” said Ryan, R-Wis. “That’s what I tell all my constituents who are worried about this. They won the election. They did run on these ideas. They did run on nationalizing health care. So, you’re right about that. They have the votes with reconciliation. They nailed down the process so that they can make sure they have the votes and that they can get this thing through really fast. It is their right. It is what they can do.”
One can quibble with some of this rhetoric. Democrats won the election on a platform of universalizing health care through a combination of private and public insurance, and government subsidies. But this is certainly a more realistic assessment than that of, say, Ryan’s Senate counterpart Judd Gregg (R-NH) who supports the reconciliation process when Republicans use it to pass tax cuts and ANWR drilling, but compares it to “running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River,” when the Democrats so much as propose it for health reform.
But has Ryan always been so fair? Let’s go to the tape:
At the end of the clip, Ryan says, “we agree with Democrats in the Senate that [reconciliation should not be an option]. Lets pass this Motion to Instruct, and lets give America democracy and debate.” So the Democrats “won the election,” but are obstructing “democracy and debate.” Gotcha.
