No one wants the Health Care Reform legislation that is pending a vote in the U.S. Senate. Not a single Republican will vote for it. The extreme left wing of the Democratic Party is very opposed to the senate bill. Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington, and Markos Moulitsas all want the bill to die because, among other things, there is no provision for a public option. But thanks to pay-offs to Senators Landrieu and Nelson, and concessions to Lieberman, the bill will pass with 60 votes in a early morning session on Christmas Eve.
Then what?
The bills passed by the House and Senate will go to a conference committee for "reconciliation". The problem is, the bills are very much different in areas like the public option. Democratic senators, with their 60-vote majority still tenuous, are unlikely to accept a bill which is different than the one they passed. So, Nancy Pelosi has a decision to make. Does she accept the senate bill as written and betray her hard left constituency, or does she thumb her nose at President Obama and sink the whole thing?
Great political drama.
No comments:
Post a Comment