Dems Threaten Reconciliation on Health Care

What does that mean? It could mean the elimination of the filibuster and only a 51 vote requirement for passage:

Even if Democrats lose the special election to pick a new Massachusetts senator Tuesday, Congress may still pass health-care overhaul through a process called reconciliation, a top House Democrat said.

That procedure requires 51 votes rather than the 60 needed to prevent Republicans from blocking votes on President Barack Obama’s top legislative priorities. That supermajority is at risk as the Massachusetts race has tightened.

“Even before Massachusetts and that race was on the radar screen, we prepared for the process of using reconciliation,” Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said.

“Getting health-care reform passed is important,” Van Hollen said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. “Reconciliation is an option.”

Should Democrats take that route, the legislation would have to be scaled back because of Senate rules.

I think this is an empty threat, but should they actually try and pull this off the Tea Party protests from last summer will look like Sunday School picnics. They'll spark a populist revolt that will sweep Democrats before them like Indonesian tourists bobbing in the 2004 tsunami. The American people will be outraged and no Democrat will be safe in November.

Because of that, they might actually have trouble getting 51 votes. Some of those Democrats in the Senate coming up for election in 2010 and 2012 may run for the hills rather than risk being tarred with this.