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Rep. Andrews: Nelson Medicaid Deal Dropped From Merged Bill
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).
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Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) said today that negotiators attempting to merge the Senate and House health care bills have dropped a provision that guaranteed Nebraska full federal funding for a Medicaid expansion in perpetuity.
It may be a moot point if Democrats convince the House to pass the Senate bill word-for-word, a possibility that may happen if Republican Scott Brown wins a special election tonight.
But the deal, made to get Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-NE) vote on the health care bill, has been a source of contention, with health care opponents, state attorneys general and others criticizing it.
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mans_best_friend
January 19, 2010 6:37 PM
There's not a reason in the world they can't get a merged bill before both houses of congress in 15 days. All the dithering was because they thought they had the luxury of time. They didn't. The leadership needs to drive home a simple point: we HAVE to get this through or we're ALL going down. No more screwing around. No more holding out for your pet provisions. The whips have to start whipping. Screw the CBO score. The changes they're going to make are minor, so any change will be far less than the uncertainty in the CBO projections anyway. If they put their minds to it they can have a bill ready for a vote next week.
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Boidster
January 19, 2010 6:46 PM in reply to mans_best_friend
What's your confidence level that Joe Lieberman will vote to pass the compromise bill no matter how small the compromises? All the articles I've seen (which of course aren't ALL of them everywhere) seem to imply that if only they can get the compromise bill done in ~15 days the Coakley/Brown election won't matter because we'll still have 60. But will we? Really? I'd like to think we would, of course, but my confidence isn't nearly as high as the authors of those articles.
I just don't trust Joe, at all. And I'm not real fond of Nelson either (my own senator; <sigh>), but from what I could tell he was at least arguing from some sort of (wrong-headed, conservadem) "principle" about the cost to Nebraska or whatever the hell it was. Joe has no principles - only a burning desire to be "important" (as defined by him) and elected.
Anyway, seriously interested in other thoughts on this. If we can get a compromise bill done in the ~15 days, is there reason to believe the 60 votes will hold together? Maybe a comment from the leadership that I missed is giving people hope?
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mans_best_friend
January 19, 2010 6:50 PM in reply to Boidster
They won't know if they don't try. What's the worst that can happen? The fallback is always to have the House pass the Senate bill.
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Boidster
January 19, 2010 7:13 PM in reply to mans_best_friend
Ah, I didn't know that was an option (the fallback). I figured that if they worked hard to get the compromise done quickly, but then it failed in the Senate, then that would be the ballgame. If they can still go back to the House and do "Plan B" then I'm with you.
What's the lifespan of a bill sent to the House? Can they keep the Senate version in their back pocket indefinitely? Just X days? Can any Senate-passed bill be brought back before the house, passed as-is, and sent immediately to the President for signature?
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jollyroger
January 19, 2010 7:32 PM in reply to Boidster
lifespan of a bill
Hmmm. good question. I would'a thought that it lives till the next congress, ie, House & Senate turnover--but then there were appointments that had to be renewed because of the year turnover, so probably its the re-convening of the same congess, second session. I probably could'a found it faster in wikipedia than all this typing...
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jollyroger
January 19, 2010 7:36 PM in reply to jollyroger
found it faster in wikipedia
Or Sesame Street--wasn't there "a bill becomes a law" thing like conjunction junction?
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jbentley4
January 19, 2010 6:43 PM
Agreed - get the damned thing done, claim victory, move onto to the economy and fix it later
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bw
January 19, 2010 6:56 PM
If Martha Coakley losses the election. all Conservative Democrats need to be booted out of office come next election. They along with President Obama are the reason for the downward trend in the polls for the Democrats. It is the failure of not getting anything done and trying to get support working with Republicans who didn't plan to work with this President from the start. His failure to realize what was happening has caused all this mess. If Obama doesn't start hitting back real hard right now he's a goner come 2012 because his base won't support a wimp.
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
January 19, 2010 7:52 PM in reply to bw
And so it begins. Both "progressives" and the "centrists" stridently insisting without benefit of any data other then an opinion pulled out of their ass that they bear none of the blame and that it's all the other side's fault for not doing exactly what the first side wanted, the way they wanted, when they wanted.
Here we are, behind the barricades. Hordes of mindless, raging barbarians descending on the city we both live in to pillage and rape and destroy everything we hold dear. And because we're Democrats, rather than fighting the enemy, our response is to point at each other and whine that "this is not my fault! This is all your fault!"
Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant. What an absolutely outstandingly helpful and constructive response.
We never learn. No matter how many times it happens, we never fucking learn. We've let the Republicans just rape the shit out of the country for three decades because we find our intramural pissing matches over policy details and ideological imperatives so much more enjoyable than fighting off the damn barbarians.
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tytester
January 19, 2010 8:35 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
The data is there - the polls in the last few days clearly show that MA independents overwhelmingly support Brown. That is to say, reject Obama, because Brown is an empty suit and everyone with half a brain can see it. So Obama has turned off not only his base (progressives or whatever you call them), but also the independents that voted for change they can believe in. It is a classic punishment vote that is frequently seen in Europe when a governing party does not deliver on campaign promises.
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jollyroger
January 19, 2010 7:28 PM
Let this be the reason to find a silver lining if Brown wins--the house will have to pass the bill as it stands, and The Cornhusker Reacharound will live on, As it should!
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Richard L. Adlof
January 19, 2010 7:39 PM
Boo hoo.
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