Schumer Pushes Dem-Only Health Care Bill--But Are His Colleagues Game?

As hope wanes that Congress will be able to reach a bipartisan health care reform compromise, key figures have slowly trickled forward to endorse, or at least nod at, the idea that Democrats should pass health care reform on their own, and the man leading the push appears to be Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

But is he having an impact behind the scenes?

The media began focusing on the issue a week ago after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Jim Manley announced that Democrats were committed to passing a bill "by any legislative means necessary." But two weeks before that, Schumer surprised some colleagues by declaring, on a conference call with reporters, that Democrats "will have contingencies in place" in the event that bipartisan negotiations go nowhere.

He was referring to budget reconciliation legislation, which can not be filibustered, and can in theory be used to pass certain health care reforms.

On Meet the Press this Sunday, he told David Gregory that Democrats are "considering alternatives" including "getting 60 Democratic votes and maybe an occasional Republican here or there on a bill [and] looking at reconciliation."

And, according to Greg Sargent, "Schumer has also told colleagues he believes political work has to be done in advance to sell "reconciliation" by persuading voters that the GOP is wholly opposed to reform of any."

The questions now are, how many colleagues is he pushing, and how receptive are they to his suggestions? In other words, is he going to be able to pull enough Democrats together to get the party to switch gears completely and back a Democrat only solution to the health care impasse?

So far, the Democrats endorsing the tactic include Schumer himself, and other surrogates including Howard Dean, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. However, repeated inquiries by TPMDC to reform-oriented senators on the question of bucking bipartisanship have gone unanswered.