Obstructionism

McCaskill Rails On 'New Low' Of GOP Obstruction (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | March 24, 2010, 3:19PM

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

We reported earlier that Senate Republicans this week are blocking committee hearings from taking place, and Sen. Claire McCaskill this afternoon excoriated the GOP for "taking game playing to a whole new level."

McCaskill (D-MO) had to cancel a hearing she'd had planned about police contracting in Afghanistan. She said the hearing was to examine a "very important" element of the war, and detailed the top officials expected to participate.

She asked the chamber, "So what do I find out this morning? The Republican Party is not going to let us have the hearing? What in the world?"

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Health Care

Dems Prepare To Kick Off Final Health Care Debate

Brian Beutler | March 22, 2010, 1:43PM

Sen. McConnell (R-KY) Sen. Reid (D-NV)

It's set to begin Tuesday, after President Obama signs the health care bill into law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will bring the House-passed reconciliation bill--making crucial amendments to the reform package--to the floor.

At that point the bulk of health care reform will be the law of the land. The reconciliation bill will strengthen some of its provisions, and remove other, more controversial ones. Once the bill comes to the floor, a 20-hour debate clock will begin ticking toward zero. Republicans say they will challenge some of its provisions for violating the reconciliation rules. If their challenges are successful, those provisions will likely be removed (meaning the bill will have to return to the House again).

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Health Care

Not Over Yet: Senate Must Finalize Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | March 22, 2010, 8:00AM

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

So, what's next?

House Democrats celebrated a major victory late last night after they passed a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system while simultaneously approving a package of fixes to the measure. But it's not the law of the land, not yet. What happens next is both simple in that there's one major vote left. But it's a bit complicated, since President Obama actually will sign one bill and then wait for the Senate to pass the other.

Come along and I'll explain.

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Deem And Pass

House Defeats Two GOP Motions Against Deem-And-Pass In One Day

Eric Kleefeld | March 18, 2010, 5:50PM

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)

The House of Representatives today defeated not one, but two attempts by the Republicans to attack the deem-and-pass maneuver for passing the Senate health care bill through the House, as part of a reconciliation package.

Earlier today, the House rejected a resolution from Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL), who switched from the Democrats to the Republicans in December, to require a direct vote on the Senate bill itself instead of the deem-and-pass procedure. The margin of defeat was 222-203 -- which might be reasonably seen as a clue for further votes to come. (Late Update: Technically, this was a vote to go forward on a procedural motion by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), rather than interrupt business and hold a vote on Griffith's resolution, as Republicans were demanding.)

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Health Care

Road To Reform: The Top Five Things That Could Go Wrong

Christina Bellantoni | March 17, 2010, 6:22PM

Clockwise: Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), President Barack Obama, Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Signs point to a done deal, and the White House says health care reform will soon be the law of the land. But the Democrats are, well, Democrats. The long slog toward passing a final health care bill has been met with potholes and partisan shenanigans. Deadlines came and went.

Confident Democratic leaders say they are nearing the end, and Republicans are resigned to the idea that the bill will pass and that their focus will soon turn toward campaigning against it. But that's not to say it's over yet. From gambling on a favorable ruling from the Senate parliamentarian to last-ditch messaging successes on the Republican side that gums up the expected House vote, there are plenty of potential pitfalls. We've given it some thought, and while these things are unlikely, here are the top five things that could go wrong between now and President Obama penning his signature on a health care bill.

I posed the question to several members today on Capitol Hill, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) summed it up. I asked, "Could something go wrong in the next week?" Blumenauer lauged: "This is Congress. You answered your own question."

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Budget Reconciliation

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

Brian Beutler | March 17, 2010, 3:20PM

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)

One of the key issues bedeviling House Democrats who are still on the fence about health care reform is the unpredictability of the Senate. They wonder whether the Senate will be able to pass a reconciliation bill--making needed changes to the comprehensive health care bill--that hasn't been riddled with holes by Republican procedural bullets.

Today, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)--chair of the Senate Budget Committee--didn't provide them much peace of mind.

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Health Care

GOP Says Dems Turning 'Democracy On Its Head'

Christina Bellantoni | March 15, 2010, 3:21PM

Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)

Rep. David Dreier and Republican leaders are accusing House Democrats of trying to "seriously bend the rules" to pass health care reform this week. The GOP is charging that the Democrats will try to pass a "fix" to a health care bill that they haven't voted on.

It's a bit complicated, but Republicans are using the scary label "The Slaughter Solution" keying off of Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter's name. They say the Democrats can use a procedural tactic to send the Senate-passed health care bill straight to the president for a signature. Or they could "deem" the Senate bill as passed only after the House passes the fix measure through budget reconciliation. Finally they could write a rule putting a condition that the Senate bill would only pass if the reconciliation bill passes.

Those options are indeed within the rules, and just might ease the heartburn House Democrats are feeling, since many of them don't like the Senate bill without the fixes carefully negotiated by leadership from both chambers and the White House. Republicans say any of those options are fundamentally unfair, and would skip important steps in the process. But Democrats say Dreier and the rest of the Republicans are full of it, and leadership is telling rank-and-file members to ignore complaints about procedure and avoid debates about legislative process.

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Public Option

Post Mortem: Who Killed The Public Option? (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | March 15, 2010, 9:56AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Obama, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

The nine lives of the public option seem to have run out. Last week, Democratic leaders in Congress twisted themselves into pretzels to explain to angry progressives why the popular measure will not make the cut when they fix the Senate health care bill in the reconciliation process. And the leadership vacuum, combined with insufficient enthusiasm for the plan among rank and file Democrats seem to have sealed the deal this time.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House place the demise of the public option at the feet of the Senate: There aren't the votes in the Senate, they say. But that's anything but obvious. In the past year, the number of Senators who've gone on the record in support of the public option well exceeds 50. In recent weeks, over 40 have restated their support for it and 24 have signed a letter expressly stating they would vote for it if it was included in the reconciliation package. And last week Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said he'd run a strong whip in favor of the public option if the House sends over a reconciliation bill with a public option in it.

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Health Care

Leap Of Faith: House Dems Will Have To Vote For Senate HCR Bill Before Fixes

Christina Bellantoni | March 12, 2010, 1:05PM

The U.S. Senate in Session

Well, it's official. Wary House Democrats are going to have to trust their Senate colleagues to pass legislation fixing the problems they've got with the upper chamber's health care bill if they want reform to become a reality.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today at a press conference confirmed what's been hinted at for several days - the rules governing the legislative process known as budget reconciliation won't allow the "fix" bill to go first.

It's a leap of faith that House Democrats have been worried about for nearly two months since Scott Brown won the special Senate election in Massachusetts. But it's the rules - Congress can't reconcile something that isn't yet a law, and it won't be law until President Obama signs it. That could be one reason he opted today to delay his trip to Indonesia and Australia.

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Budget Reconciliation

Reconciliation Roadblock? Parliamentarian May Derail Preferred Dem Timeline

Brian Beutler | March 11, 2010, 3:35PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

A report in Roll Call contains some unwelcome news for Democrats:

"The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress' original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday," the article reads.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman Don Stewart confirms this to me: "The Senate Parliamentarian's office has informed Senate Republicans that reconciliation instructions require the measure to make changes in law," Stewart said.

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Budget Reconciliation

Dems Inch Closer To A Deal On Reconcilliation

Brian Beutler | March 11, 2010, 8:27AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

It's been almost two months since Sen. Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts special election nearly derailed health care reform, but soon, Democrats will know if they have what it takes to fully rebound: This morning, House Dems will meet to review and assess the final health care reform package--a combination of the Senate's bill and a separate reconciliation bill (the details of which remain undisclosed) tweaking several of its key provision.

This step is key. It will largely determine if, how, and when Speaker Nancy Pelosi can muster the votes for the paired package, bringing the year-long fight over health care to a close. The vote will be extremely tight, and though leadership confidently predicts passage, at least one major issue--abortion--will have to be resolved before Pelosi can bring it to the floor.

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Health Care

GOP To Dems: If You Think You'll Be More Popular After Health Care, Think Again

Christina Bellantoni | March 10, 2010, 11:59AM

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Top Republicans told reporters today the Democrats are wrong to believe their approval ratings will go up once they pass health care, and warned against using reconciliation. They insisted that even though they used the tactic when they held power, the Democrats are abusing the process.

"Those who think they are putting the issue behind them are fundamentally wrong," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said today in a briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill. "I think their problems are just beginning," Kyl said, citing polls showing the health care bill is unpopular.

At the briefing House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) pushed a new theme that Americans will vote Democrats out of office on a process argument, since polls show voters don't like reconciliation. "This is such a perversion of the process and a manipulation of the rules, they do this at their peril," Cantor said.

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Health Care

Can The President's Health Care Proposal Survive Reconciliation?

Brian Beutler | March 5, 2010, 11:30AM

President Barack Obama talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office.

Assuming abortion doesn't kill health care reform, the other sine qua non of the process is the sidecar bill. House Democrats won't pass Senate health care legislation unless they're assured that a separate package is moved through the reconciliation process, making a number of amendments.

On that score, the White House put some skin in the game several weeks ago when they unveiled a package of proposed changes to the Senate bill, which administration officials say are designed to survive reconciliation--an esoteric process, which only allows measures with significant budgetary impact to advance.

Are they right? For the most part, yes.

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Health Care

McConnell Says GOP Will Campaign To Repeal Health Care...But Won't Say Whether They'll Actually Do It

Brian Beutler | March 3, 2010, 3:25PM

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

In his response to President Obama's latest call for Congress to finish off health care reform--a process that will involve invoking a filibuster-proof maneuver called reconciliation--Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted that, if the legislation passes, "every" Republican candidate will campaign this fall to repeal it. However, he would not go so far as to say he'd actually move to repeal it if Republicans take back the Senate next fall.

"There's an overwhelming likelihood that every Republican candidate will be campaigning to repeal it," McConnell intoned at a press conference this afternoon. "I think virtually all Republican candidates will say [the bill] is something they would not have supported."

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Health Care

GOP To Obama: Nah, Our Ideas Don't Make It A Better Health Care Plan

Christina Bellantoni | March 3, 2010, 9:15AM

President Obama speaks at a bipartisan White House gathering with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in the background.

President Obama today will offer his final stamp of approval on a compromise health care reform measure that Democrats hope can pass Congress in the coming month. Obama yesterday offered an olive branch to Republicans by telling congressional leaders he will include four GOP ideas in his plan.

But Republicans immediately dismissed the ideas and issued scolding statements saying Obama should scrap a year's worth of work on health care and start over.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) was first, telling Obama that including his party's ideas was just "political cover." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP was "disappointed with your latest proposal to simply paper a few of these commonsense proposals over an unsalvageable bill."

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Jim Bunning

Dem Leadership: Bunning Episode Proves The Need For Reconciliation

Brian Beutler | March 2, 2010, 8:48PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Sen. Jim Bunning's marathon filibuster--which cut unemployment benefits and triggered thousands of furloughs--is over. But it's not forgotten. In a statement provided to TPMDC a Senate Democratic leadership aide notes that the episode highlights the need for the Senate to return to a time when filibusters weren't the norm--and that includes amending comprehensive health care legislation using reconciliation.

"Bunning lifted the curtain on the great lengths that Republicans go to drag out every single action taken by the Senate, no matter how routine," the aide says. "This is why we need to return to an era of more up or down votes and fewer filibusters. It's why all options are on the table moving forward, including reconciliation."

Obviously, Democratic leaders have been building a reconciliation strategy for weeks--it's not as if reconciliation was off the table until Jim Bunning went nuclear. But his filibuster crystallizes why it is Democrats have lost faith in the standard legislative process and help them justify the move.

Democrats

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

Brian Beutler | March 2, 2010, 5:58PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

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.

Health Care

Hoyer On House-Senate Health Care Shuffle: 'I Trust Leader Reid'

Christina Bellantoni | March 2, 2010, 1:34PM

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today that while his Democratic caucus is wary the Senate will live up to a promise to fix problems with the health care bill using reconciliation, he trusts Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to do the right thing.

Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters during his weekly pen-and-pad briefing that House Democrats "want some assurance that those items they have problems with are in fact modified before they vote for the Senate bill."

Reporters asked if House Democrats need a formal promise in writing from 50 senators that reconciliation would pass, and Hoyer insisted "We need an agreement between the two bodies. I trust Leader Reid, if he tells me they can do something I think he'll be able to do it."

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Budget Reconciliation

Is The Real Problem For The Public Option In The House?

Brian Beutler | March 2, 2010, 9:18AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Progressives are doubling down on their push to have the Senate pass a public option via reconciliation. But are they underestimating the extent to which the House may be as much the problem as the Senate?

The House is currently shy of the votes needed to pass the Senate health care bill, and, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, they're looking to make up the difference among public option foes in the Democratic caucus.

"I think the Senate bill, which is now the center of the President's consideration, I think you had a lot of people who indicated they'd like the Senate bill better," Hoyer said after an event at the Brookings Institution yesterday in response to a question from TPMDC. "It doesn't have the public option that gave a number of people concern. But there's still a way's to go."

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Unemployment benefits

Asked To Shame Bunning's Obstruction Gibbs Tells Press 'I'm Trying As Best I Can' (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | March 2, 2010, 9:03AM

Press Sec. Robert Gibbs at the White House Press Briefing, March 1, 2010

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during his daily briefing Monday that he's tried to shine a light on Republican obstruction and hypocrisy.

Veteran scribe Helen Thomas asked Gibbs why he doesn't "shame" Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) for holding up unemployment benefits.

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Health Care

Obama's New Health Care Plan To Have Both Substance And Process

Christina Bellantoni | March 1, 2010, 5:59PM

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

President Obama Wednesday will detail both the substance of his final health care reform legislation proposal and the process for getting it through Congress once and for all.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during his daily briefing today that Obama will offer the pathway to final passage by outlining the "next steps." But Gibbs also dodged questions on specifics or how the president would help Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid secure enough votes in their chambers.

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Health Care

Former Senate Parliamentarian: 'I Would Never Use The Term Illegitimate With Regard To Reconciliation' (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | March 1, 2010, 11:51AM

Former Senate Parliamentarian Robert Dove

The man who served as Senate parliamentarian on and off from 1981-2001 has news for Senate Republicans, who say the Democrats are way out on a limb using the majority-vote budget reconciliation process to amend health care legislation.

"Reconciliation has been used a lot," said Robert Dove on MSNBC this morning. "And I would never use the term illegitimate with regard to reconciliation."

"It has been used starting in 1980 for very large, major bills. And it is a way, of course, of getting around the problem of the Senate filibuster," Dove went on.

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Democrats

30! Five More Democrats--Including Durbin--Say They Support a Public Option Through Reconciliation

Brian Beutler | March 1, 2010, 10:08AM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Five leading Democrats--including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin--have publicly announced that they will vote for a public option if it's offered up during the budget reconciliation process, where legislation can pass with a majority vote.

"Sen. Durbin has long been a supporter of the public option," reads a statement from Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker to the progressive groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, and Credo. "I don't know whether the votes exist in the Senate right now, but if the House version of the public option came up for a vote in reconciliation Sen. Durbin would vote yes."

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Health Care

Known Unknowns: Why The Fate Of Health Care Reform Hangs On Two Big Questions

Brian Beutler | March 1, 2010, 9:29AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Obama, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Much is known about how Democrats hope to finish off health care reform. Later this week, President Obama will submit yet more proposed changes to the Senate's health care bill. Those changes--with some tweaks--will almost certainly be moved through the majority-vote budget reconciliation process in both chambers. And that will likely happen after the House passes the Senate's more comprehensive package. But there are at least two significant unknowns--and truly the fate of health care reform depends on the answer to those questions: Can the House muster the votes for a major health care bill again? And how much, substantively, can the Senate pass through reconciliation.

The first question is obviously the big one. Due to expected vacancies, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will likely need only 216 votes to pass the Senate bill. Recall, though, that when she moved her own health care bill through the House, only 219 Democrats voted for it. It's almost certainly the case that she had more votes in her pocket than that, and that she allowed certain vulnerable Democrats to vote no even though they were willing to vote yes. But over the last several months, the party as a whole has become more reluctant to take risky votes on unpopular legislation. In other words, it's hard to imagine that more "no" votes have become "yes" votes since November. More likely, the opposite is true.

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