Health Care Follies: Pelosi Mum On Selling Senate Abortion, Immigration Provisions To House Democrats

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held an unexpected press conference today, where she acknowledged--unsurprisingly--that the divide between Democrats and Republicans on health care reform is unlikely to be bridged. But, when asked if and how she can cobble together the votes within her own caucus to pass a bill with controversial abortion and immigration language in it, Pelosi had no answers.

Pelosi acknowledged what has long been known--that neither abortion nor immigration can be dealt with in the budget reconciliation process. The issues, she said, are "not central to the budget--in order for them to be part of the budget bill, they have to be central to the budget."

But she wouldn't say how she plans to overcome the 216-vote threshold she'd likely face if either or both of these issues causes rebellion among members of her caucus. The next step, she said is to send legislation to CBO and, once CBO reports back, to see what the Senate can pass through the reconciliation process. Then it'll be time to sell that to her caucus.