Democrats to Pass Health Bill Using Reconciliation

Senate Democrats plan to use the obscure parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation to circumvent a potential Republican filibuster and pass the health care reform bill with a simple majority. The news comes from Sen. Tom Harkin (D – Iowa) who said that the House will need to pass the Senate’s version of the health care bill (the one that passed in December) after the Senate has assured House leaders that there are enough voted to pass the measure via reconciliation. After the house passes the Senate’s bill, both chambers will then pass a separate reconciliation measure to revise it. Harkin, incidentally, said that there are indeed enough votes in the Senate to pass the legislation as is; in a previous interview on MSNBC, however, he noted that should a public option come into play, he fears that it would lose support and imperil the entire bill.

This plan has the support of President Barack Obama, whose top aides have said that the Democrats will definitely proceed with reconciliation. Obama, in a speech devoted to the health care overhaul today, urged lawmakers “to finish their work and schedule a vote in the next few weeks.”

Republicans are not amused by this turn of events and have already begun organizing its opposition to the legislation. Further, they’ve begun to voice concerns that the Senate Parliamentarian, a little-known man named Alan Frumin who acts, effectively, as the Senate referee, may not be trusted to remain impartial when considering whether reconciliation is allowed in this case. Though four Republican ideas have been incorporated into the plan, the GOP has already derided this as insufficient, adding that the bi-partisan overtures amount to naught more than political cover.