Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Yes, Virginia, Democrats could pass Health care if they wanted

While it is hardly good-natured, this article points out something which Conservatives and moderates may need to hear. The reality is, Barack Obama does not need to tack to the center to pass Health Care Reform. He could pass it today with the existing Democratic majority.

Some of us realized all along that there was no rational reason that the Massachusetts election had to kill health care reform. Fundamentally, the main barrier -- getting sixty votes in the Senate -- had already been crossed. The remaining obstacles are puny. All the Democrats needed to do was have the House pass the Senate bill. If they insisted on changes, most of those could easily be made through reconciliation, which only requires a majority vote in the Senate
I am hopeful that Democratic congresspeople who want to keep their jobs after the election will realize that this is a bad idea. But it is certainly possible. We need to be ready for anything.

1 comment:

Jaltus said...

The real issue is that the Senate bill could never pass in the House. Pelosi tried to push it through, but she was 14+ votes shy.

Remember, the House was much more against the health reform than the Senate. The House barely passed it, and right now it would not pass at all (3 reps either quit or passed away, one said he would change his vote if given a chance). The vote only passed by 3.