The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.If the Democrats pull this end-run around the rules and structures of the Senate in order to pass this legislation, after the 2010 elections the entire Democrat caucus will be able to meet in a broom closet because the voter revolt that will follow this move will be devastating. Blue dogs? Gone. Leaders like Chris Dodd, Harry Reid and many other Dem senators up in 2010? Gone. The '94 elections will look like a blip compared to the washout the Dems will have in 2010.
The idea is the latest effort by Democrats to escape the morass caused by delays in Congress, as well as voter discontent crystallized in angry town-hall meetings. Polls suggest the overhaul plans are losing public support, giving Republicans less incentive to go along.
Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year's end.
Senators on the Finance Committee are pushing ahead with talks on a bipartisan bill. Democratic leaders say they hope those talks succeed but increasingly are preparing for the possibility that they do not.
Most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, but certain budget-related measures can pass with 51 votes through a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation.
In recent days, Democratic leaders have concluded they can pack more of their health overhaul plans under this procedure, congressional aides said. They might even be able to include a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, a key demand of the party's liberal wing, but that remains uncertain.
Other parts of the Democratic plan would be put to a separate vote in the Senate, including most of the insurance regulations that have been central to Mr. Obama's health-care message.
That bill would likely set new rules for insurers, such as requiring they accept anyone, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. This portion of the health-care overhaul has already drawn some Republican support and wouldn't involve new spending, leading Democratic leaders to believe they could clear the 60-vote hurdle.
I'm also hoping that should the Dems go through with this, the GOP in the current Senate should shut the place down. Don't let anything through. No nominations, no legislation. Anything they can stop, they should.
If it's civil war they want, it's civil war they're gonna get.
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2 comments:
oh Rick, they know what's best for you so much more than you do...just submit.
The way they do this is take turns objecting to unanimous consent to accept bills having been read and forcing them to be read, word for word, on the floor.
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