by mcjoan
While preparations for the healthcare reform summit next week apparently continue, Senate Dems tell Roll Call (sub. req.) that that the summit itself doesn't rule out
using reconciliation to pass the bill.
Given the unified GOP opposition to their health care effort, Senate Democrats argued just before departing for the Presidents Day recess that Obama’s summit is no reason to shelve reconciliation as a potential strategy. The tactic would allow Democrats pass certain aspects of health care reform with just 51 votes.
"I think it should be constantly pursued," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Thursday when asked whether Democrats should take a break from drafting a reconciliation bill until after Obama’s summit.
"I think the Republicans are pretty committed to the notion that obstructing everything that President Obama would like to accomplish is very key to their base and their political success," Whitehouse added. "I don’t see them departing from that strategy."
That's a pretty safe assumption from Whitehouse. The Republican commitment to obstruction is demonstrated in this article by Lisa Murkowski who says, again, that the only way this will work is to start from scratch. Republicans seem to have settled on the "blank piece of paper"
approach, despite their earlier demands for a plan to be put online 72 hours before the summit. Since they've been asked to come up with a plan as well, it would seem that they'd prefer not to have to do any homework.
Sam Stein
Four senators
have signed a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to pass a public option for insurance coverage through the use of reconciliation.
The list of signatories includes both usual and somewhat unusual suspects, from the progressive wing of the party -- Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) -- to less ideological lawmakers who find themselves in primary election contests -- Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Col.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).
"Dear Leader Reid," the letter says:
We respectfully ask that you bring for a vote before the full Senate a public health insurance option under budget reconciliation rules.
There are four fundamental reasons why we support this approach - its potential for billions of dollars in cost savings; the growing need to increase competition and lower costs for the consumer; the history of using reconciliation for significant pieces of health care legislation; and the continued public support for a public option.
The petition is part of a larger effort by a coalition of progressive groups to rally Democratic lawmakers around the idea of passing a government run health insurance option through a parliamentary maneuver that would allow an up-or-down vote.
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