Conrad: Parts Of Health Care Fix Might Not Meet Reconciliation Test

Well they need to get rid of the stuff that doesn't pass the test.

If Obama has to delay his trip a few more days then he should. This has to get done within a week.

They most likely will be able to get rid of some of the kickbacks in the bill since they directly affect the budget.

Honestly, this is one of the most dour human beings I have ever seen. Could he smile, if he wanted to?

Relax! He's holding out for guarantees that all of the subsidies that go to his state's beef, corn & mining interests will not be touched to pay for the bill, and there will be no additional regulation on all of the usurious banks that hide out in his state. Not to worry!

He really is a pettifogger.

i think voters should vote out all senators who are in office for over 12 years. it seems senators become corrupt or they join the club and stay silent as the fellow senators are corrupt up to their eyeballs. for example look at dodd, he has been so corrupted over the years in the senate that he does not see anything wrong with the shenanigans going on on wallstreet. i just do not believe its healthy for our democracy to have a person in gov't (politician) their entire life

Conrad has been crying about this for months! My advise to him, "Shut up! already!!"

Just to be clear--even if the house passed the bill at the end of the week, and it then came back to them because they had to vote on changes as a result of the reconciliation process--that would mean that the senate bill still would have passed, and Obama could sign that into law in the worst case scenario, even if all other votes fail--correct?

It would have been smart to clear everything with the parliamentarian before getting the house to move on it.

I'm stunned by the almost reflexive negativity that happens in any thread related to HCR. The Chair of the Senate Budget Committee is advising his fellow Democrats on the reconciliation rules and procedures and THIS makes him a putz? Don't get me wrong, Conrad isn't terribly high on my list of people to invite to dinner or anything (unless I'm preparing pufferfish), but some of the reaction to what seems like a relatively neutral and straightforward position is a little... "off". To say the least. The Senate Bill needs to be "fixed" through reconciliation. Reconciliation is a process that has rules. One of the rules is that all provisions must be of a budgetary nature or they will be rejected. It seems pretty reasonable to me that the Budget Committee Chair might have some ideas on that... And it seems like it would be better that he voice those ideas now than after it is too late for the House to be aware of them in their process.

Conrad hasn't had what I consider to be an exemplary track record as far as Health Care Reform is concerned. In my humble opinion, I will defer to the Parlimentarian's review and expect Conrad to STFU until it's passed. He's done enough to screw it up already.

..."Oh, you gotta, accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative..."

"...the Byrd rule, which requires a reconciliation bill to amend tax or entitlement law, without increasing the deficit."

How did the Bush tax cuts ever pass this test?

Make up your mind Conrad, are you trying to torpedo the bill or not? Geez.

I see Democratic Senators like Conrad still refuse to play like a member of a team; which in this case means either say something supportive, of STFU. Another convienient villan? I'd compare Conrad's campaign contributions very carefully to the provisions he's objecting to; is there really a procedural problem, or just bought Senator problem?

Conrad always talks like he's the final authority, like "No we don't have the votes for this, no, we don't have the votes for that". He's an obstructionist who doesn't care a whit about his state or his country. He's all about making sure that he gets his from the health insurers and Big Pharma. Kent Conrad, King of the co-ops, the plan that never happened.

yes because the scum inthe senate are so trustworthy the rest of the time. what a joke, they hgot their wish list filled in the first bill, why would they go fuck that up just to help citizens. The Billions for ins co's with no oversite in the bill is just what the insurance companies wrote.