Senator Rockefeller:
Congressman Mollohan:
Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito:
Congressman Rahall:
We the undersigned ask you to stand with Senator Robert Byrd and oppose using the budget reconciliation process known as the “nuclear option” to pass health care reform.
The parliamentary procedures that reconciliation authorizes were never intended for such a purpose as passing President Obama’s health care reform bill.
As Senator Byrd said last year regarding the use of budget reconciliation to pass health care reform, “such a proposal would violate the intent and spirit of the budget process and do serious injury to the Constitutional role of the Senate.”
We urge you to not side step the will of the American people by using the nuclear option — a procedural move called “reconciliation” to skirt the rules, avoid an open vote on the pending health care bills, and use back-room negotiations to produce a bill for the president to sign.
Sincerely,