Reid: Democrats will use 50-vote tactic to finish healthcare within 60 days

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/82461-reid-dems-will-use-50-vote-tactic-to-finish-healthcare-within-60-days


Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber to make final changes to its healthcare bill with only a simple majority of senators, instead of the 60 it takes to normally end a filibuster.

"I've had many conversations this week with the president, his chief of staff, and Speaker Pelosi," Reid said during an appearance Friday evening on "Face to Face with Jon Ralston" in Nevada. "And we're really trying to move forward on this."

The majority leader said that while Democrats have a number of options, they would likely use the budget reconciliation process to pass a series of fixes to the first healthcare bill passed by the Senate in November. These changes are needed to secure votes for passage of that original Senate bill in the House.

[Silent3]

1. "Tactic"?

Since when is getting 50 votes a "tactic"? Those devious, sly dogs, using the ol' majority wins trick! :eyes:

(By the way, the language "tactic" comes from the article quoted by the OP, not the OP him/herself, so I'm not reacting to the poster, but the author of the article.)

A lot of people seems to have accepted the bullshit that it "should" take 60 votes to get anything at all done. That's the only "tactic" at play here, and it's a Republican tactic.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Democracy is now a "tactic".

[kudzu22]

16. I think it's very dangerous what they're trying to do

Not in passing healthcare, but in expanding what can be done under reconciliation. The Rethugs will be in charge again at some point, and if we open this door for them, there's no telling what they can do with 50 votes. Eliminate department of Energy, Education, HUD, etc. -- they would have done it in 2001 if they could, but the filibuster rule stopped them. If it's now allowed under reconciliation, think of the damage that 50 GOPers and a VP could do.

That which can be done under reconciliation can be undone via the same process, and they won't stop with eliminating healthcare. We all want HCR to pass and we all want a public option, but this is absolutely the wrong way to do it.

[mitchtv]

17. er... we've already seen that

in action.2001-2008. How do you think they passed wverything chimpy wanted?

[Skink]

18. If the repubs ever get back in the white house they'll also have control of the senate.

[bain_sidhe]

19. No, they're not talking about doing that

They're talking about passing the Senate bill in the House, then using reconciliation to pass only the "fixes" that relate to budgetary matters.

[Silent3]

21. I understand the principle behind having the filibuster rule...

...but it's clearly being badly abused now. I'm not arguing for totally eliminating the filibuster, but there are times when enough is enough, and it's not like there would be any dangerous new precedent being set here -- Republicans used reconciliation many times during the Bush years when a handful of excessively conservatives Democrats weren't enough for them to get what they wanted.

I'd certainly be for making it much, much harder to sustain a filibuster, so that it takes substantial in-person effort and devotion to keep it going, and perhaps instituting some limitations on how often it can be used, so a minority party would have to carefully pick and choose when it's going to assert itself against the majority. This de riguer use of the filibuster against even the most routine of Senate business has got to stop.

[Lasher]

2. So why didn't Reid do this initially, to put this away by the end of March last year?

And just what is left to move forward on after a year of kissing Republican asses?

[Sebastian Doyle]

12. Yeah, no shit

Like, when there was actually something WORTH passing?

[Faygo Kid]

3. 60 days?? Two more months? Won't happen if it goes that long.

What is Reid trying to pull here? This doesn't pass the smell test. The amount of opposition the Rethuglicans and Faux News will mobilize in two months will crush this, and Reid knows it.

[Moochy]

6. giving the R's plenty of warning

Reid wants his Bipartisan Unicorn so badly!

[vegiegals]

9. delays only give time for Repugs to widdle it down more and to hand out favors to both groups!!

[Bluebear]

4. "Finish" what iteration of this mess, exactly?

[frazzled]

7. Six days would be far better

Honestly, they just need to get this behind them.

[ThomWV]

10. Monday at noon would be about right if you ask me.

[high density]

8. Why was Larry O'Donnell on MSNBC last night saying this wouldn't work?

He claimed there were still 60 vote procedural hurdles before the reconciliation vote could happen.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Besides, other than for a jobs bill with big tax cuts

I really don't think we're going to see even fifty votes for anything for the rest of the year, unless it's some meaningless resolution or something like that.

The Blue Dogs are still scared shitless from Massachusetts.

[kudzu22]

13. I think it's that it kinda breaks the rules

Reconciliation is for budget balancing, and creating a new public agency isn't really budget-related. The Repubs will object an get a ruling from the parliamentarian, who will probably sustain their objection. Biden can overrule it, but that may be open to debate, and that debate requires 60 votes to stop. Also, as I understand it, there is no limit to how many amendments can be offered to a reconciliation bill. The GOp is planning to offer an endless stream of amendments so the bill never gets to a vote. That process could be cut off, but it would require 60 votes again.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. I thought he'd recently been pushing for the public option.

[upi402]

15. By the time this takes effect Republicans will be in power again

Oh, I forgot they still are in power. Well I hope they do something real. It will all go off a cliff when Rethugs have a majority.

[timeforpeace]

20. Last year they said 2014, now it's 2015. You're probably right.

[cal04]

22. Public option revival gains steam

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/82491-public-option-revival-movement-gains-steam

The public option, the left’s favorite part of healthcare reform, is mounting an unexpected comeback.

The recess week ended up providing liberal activists and their allies on Capitol Hill with a surprise opportunity to breath life into the proposal to create a government-run health insurance plan – a proposal that had been declared all-but-dead two months ago.

(snip)
Over the course of three days, 18 (19)Democratic senators signed on to Sen. Michael Bennet’s (D-Colo.) Wednesday letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), requesting a floor vote on the public option should the upper chamber consider a healthcare reconciliation bill. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the vice chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, is the only member of the leadership to sign on so far.


(snip)
Reconciliation not only would allow Democrats to work around Republicans but it lets them disregard the protests of centrist members of the their own caucus. It was the unyielding opposition of centrists like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that forced Reid and the Senate’s liberals to set aside their hopes for the public option if they wanted to get the 60 votes they needed to pass their legislation on Christmas Eve.

[Kablooie]

23. I'll see it when I believe it.

And I don't really believe it so I doubt that I'll see it.