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Democrats Ponder One-Bill Reconciliation Strategy For Health Care
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| Contributor | WesternDem |
| Last Edited | WesternDem Aug 25, 2009 12:28am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Ryan Grim |
| News Date | Tuesday, August 25, 2009 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Senate Democrats contemplating a controversial parliamentary maneuver that would allow them to pass key provisions of a health care bill with just 51 votes are exploring an option that would not require the bill to be split into two.
Should Democrats use the procedure known as reconciliation, the assumption has been that certain elements would have to be stripped out of the bill and passed separately, because a Senate rule known as the Byrd Rule only allows reconciliation for legislation that costs or raises substantial amounts of money. That would include the expansion of Medicare or Medicaid, revenue-raising tax provisions, and even the creation of a public health insurance option, depending on how it's written. But non-budget-related items -- most of the new insurance industry regulations, for instance -- would presumably be put in a separate bill that would go through regular order -- and would therefore need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Passing two separate bills, however, is seen by some Democrats as too much of a lift for the slow-moving Senate.
But there's another alternative, according to Martin Paone. Paone, who served as a Democratic Senate floor staffer for 29 years, has been advising Democrats as they craft their legislative strategy. He proposes that Democrats try to get 60 votes to waive the Byrd Rule -- which would then allow the inclusion of those non-budget-related provision in one bill that would require only 51 votes for final passage. |
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