Rahm Emanuel ventured to the Capitol Friday evening to hash out health care strategy with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a White House aide confirmed.
The meeting comes as Democrats are searching for a way to get to the health care finish line, though neither chamber wants to move first. Senate leaders want the House to pass the Senate bill first, after which the Senate would use reconciliation to fix the legislation to the liking of the Senate. House leaders contend that the votes aren't there for the Senate bill if the upper chamber doesn't move. The House, after two centuries of watching the Senate lag behind, doesn't trust that it'll act.
Senior Hill aides speculated to HuffPost that Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, would bring the message that the House must move first, with a pledge from Senate Democrats that they would follow. It's hard to make amendments to a law through reconciliation if that law hasn't been made official yet, they argue.
SOURCE: Huffington Post
Saturday, February 27, 2010
One last health-reform sprint
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer blogs: “The President remains committed to enacting meaningful health insurance reform …And while the President appreciated the participation and input of everyone today, he doesn’t think we can just scrap a year’s worth of work and start over. The millions of Americans that are suffering can’t afford another year-long debate. There’s too much at stake.”
Dr. Carrie Budoff Brown sketches the “x”s and “o”s: “Within minutes of Obama’s remarks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made clear that he didn’t envision extended negotiations with the Republicans. ‘That’s the president’s timeline, not mine,’ Reid told POLITICO. … Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey, one of the Democrats’ most prominent voices on health care, said House leaders expect Obama to modify his plan based on Thursday’s meeting and send a revised proposal to the House by next week. Democratic leaders will then use the president’s bill as their jumping-off point. …Another Democratic problem is that their hoped-for slam-dunk on bipartisanship didn’t materialize Thursday. Democrats from Obama on down seemed to be counting on portraying the Republicans as obstructionists and know-nothings – all the better to convince the American public that Democrats really had no choice but to jam through the bill on reconciliation. But instead, the Republicans who showed up generally looked reasonable and sincere. …
"That’s not to say the summit didn’t bring a certain clarity: Democrats aren’t starting over, Republicans aren’t planning to sign on to Obama’s plan, and the only clear hope Democrats have of passing a bill is using reconciliation. … Democrats will likely need to embark on three-step process, with a target to finish it before the Easter recess. Step one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Congress must first pass a reconciliation bill with major, but limited, fixes to the original Senate bill. Step two, the House would then agree to pass the Senate bill. Step three, both chambers would have to pass a third bill with policy changes that would not pass muster under reconciliation, which requires every element to have a direct impact on the federal budget. For example, the third bill would be needed to make any changes to abortion and immigration provisions in the Senate bill. … House Democrats may well withhold their votes on the first two bills until they are assured their concerns will be addressed in a third bill.”
SOURCE: Politico
Dr. Carrie Budoff Brown sketches the “x”s and “o”s: “Within minutes of Obama’s remarks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made clear that he didn’t envision extended negotiations with the Republicans. ‘That’s the president’s timeline, not mine,’ Reid told POLITICO. … Rep. Rob Andrews of New Jersey, one of the Democrats’ most prominent voices on health care, said House leaders expect Obama to modify his plan based on Thursday’s meeting and send a revised proposal to the House by next week. Democratic leaders will then use the president’s bill as their jumping-off point. …Another Democratic problem is that their hoped-for slam-dunk on bipartisanship didn’t materialize Thursday. Democrats from Obama on down seemed to be counting on portraying the Republicans as obstructionists and know-nothings – all the better to convince the American public that Democrats really had no choice but to jam through the bill on reconciliation. But instead, the Republicans who showed up generally looked reasonable and sincere. …
"That’s not to say the summit didn’t bring a certain clarity: Democrats aren’t starting over, Republicans aren’t planning to sign on to Obama’s plan, and the only clear hope Democrats have of passing a bill is using reconciliation. … Democrats will likely need to embark on three-step process, with a target to finish it before the Easter recess. Step one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Congress must first pass a reconciliation bill with major, but limited, fixes to the original Senate bill. Step two, the House would then agree to pass the Senate bill. Step three, both chambers would have to pass a third bill with policy changes that would not pass muster under reconciliation, which requires every element to have a direct impact on the federal budget. For example, the third bill would be needed to make any changes to abortion and immigration provisions in the Senate bill. … House Democrats may well withhold their votes on the first two bills until they are assured their concerns will be addressed in a third bill.”
SOURCE: Politico
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