Former Vice President Dan Quayle appeared on Fox News this afternoon to chip in his two cents on the health care debate. Namely, he warned that using the reconciliation process would set a “very bad precedent” because a simple majority is just unconstitutional.
“They’re gonna go to budget reconciliation, which I believe would set a very bad precedent, because essentially — if they could do it, and I don’t know if they can do it, but if they could do it — what you have done, effectively, is to take away the filibuster in the United States Senate,” Quayle said. “So, therefore, you have 51 votes in the House and 51 votes in the Senate. That is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. That is not the constitutional process.”
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We’ll give Quayle the benefit of the doubt on the “51 votes in the House” thing. But using reconciliation to pass health care reform would not set a precedent, “very bad” or otherwise. President George W. Bush used it regularly.
The Constitution gives both houses of Congress the power to set their own rules. Although that document doesn’t mention the filibuster, the practice seems to have been around since Congress began.
But either way, Quayle doesn’t think the Democrats will go through with it.
“I would imagine wiser, cooler heads will prevail and this process will not be attempted,” he said.
