Break It Down Again

When it's all mixed up
Better break it down
In the world of silence
In the world of sound
--Tears for Fears

Yesterday the House voted to repeal the Health Care Law. Next, it goes to the Senate. Senate majority leader Harry Reid has vowed to prevent a vote in the Senate.

One motivation for blocking a vote is to keep senate Democrats from revealing where they stand on the health care issue. Given high levels of negative public sentiment against the health care law, some Democrat senators may not want to go on the record here. Vote to uphold the health care legislation, and risk alienating voters in the next election. Vote to repeal it, and decrease solidarity among Democrat ranks.

Senate Republicans have indicated that they can work within current rules to bring a vote for repeal to the floor.

In the event that the Senate does vote on the bill and the repeal passes, then the bill would head to the White House where President Obama has indicated that he would veto it. Like all prior points in the process, however, the president's actions would leave him open to scrutiny by the citizenry.

In the event that the law survives this process, then Republicans are likely to bring forth legislation to defund portions of the health care program. Stated differently, they would seek to starve the program of resources.

Meanwhile state lawsuits challenging the Constitutionality of the health care law continue thru the courts.

Clearly, momentum is building on multiple fronts to break down a law that has been clearly illegal from the get go.

The terribly flawed character of the health care law, and current efforts to repeal it, reflect a larger issue as well--one likely to shape the relevance of the Constitution as the 'Supreme Law of the Land' henceforth. Are the limits imposed on the Federal government by the Constitution real restraints, or can Congress, the President, or the Court get around these restraints whenever they want?