Faced with the possibility that Republican Scott Brown could win tomorrow’s US Senate election, Democrats in Washington are discussing with great urgency how they could keep his vote from scuttling comprehensive health care legislation, President Obama’s top domestic priority.
None is certain to work, and all carry political risks.
One possibility is that the House could quickly pass the Senate version without changing it, and later, both chambers could pass fixes that reflect the evolving House-Senate compromise. This could be done using a special parliamentary procedure called “reconciliation,’’ which requires only a simple majority vote of 51 votes in the Senate.
Whether House Democrats who disliked the Senate bill can be persuaded to go along with that idea, remains in question. It would outrage Republicans and provoke the conservative grassroots. Antiabortion Democrats in the House oppose the Senate bill’s provisions on abortion coverage; liberals might prefer to ditch the Senate bill and start all over again; and moderates might balk at voting for any health care bill after what went on in Massachusetts.
But Ron Pollack of Families USA, which supports the health overhaul efforts, called this “probably the cleanest, most effective, and most practical way to pass the legislation, and do so quickly.’’
Another possibility would be for Democrats to hurry and pass a compromise bill before Brown were seated.
SOURCE: Boston Globe
