The Three Senators (and Two Races) That Will Decide the Fate of Obamacare - Michael Tomasky
THE OUTSIDE GAME
The Three Senators (and Two Races) That Will Decide the Fate of Obamacare
Washington is watching as Democrats in two special elections rip the repeal effort and run surprisingly close races in red-hued districts.
MICHAEL TOMASKY
05.05.17 10:39 AM ET
You’re going to be reading and hearing lots of breathless stuff over the next few weeks on health care. My advice to you would be not to take it seriously if it doesn’t recognize this basic fact: The is going to come down to the conference committee. That’s where the action is here.
You remember what a conference committee is? The House passes its version of a bill. The Senate passes its version. They’re different. Then, leaders from both chambers appoint a conference committee to smooth out the differences. Then, the agreed-upon bill goes back to both houses for passage a second time. Only then does it go to the president’s desk.
No, they didn’t make this easy. But usually conference committees do what they’re designed to do for the simple mathematical reason that if a bill passed both Houses, it was nearly by definition supported by the majority party in both houses, and it’s those party’s leaders who appoint most conference committee members, and they can stack it however they like.
All that is presumably a few weeks away. First, the Senate gets to work. All eyes turn to the wily Mitch McConnell. There is a slim chance—really slim—that McConnell, for whatever baroque set of insider-y reasons, doesn’t really want this to pass. Maybe opposition to what the House did really rises up over these next few weeks and he senses that his majority may be in danger. Maybe enough Republican senators come to him and say things like “Mitch, I’m getting hammered back home on this.”
If that’s the case, he can easily fix things behind closed doors in such a way that the House bill fails in the Senate, and he can say hey, we tried.
more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/05/the-three-senators-and-two-races-that-will-decide-the-fate-of-obamacare
= new reply since forum marked as read
