Senate Showdown over Health Care Reconciliation Begins

Now that President Obama has signed the health care bill into law, the Senate Democrats are putting into motion the final piece of their reform package -- the reconciliation bill.

The Senate this afternoon kicked off debate on the 153-page reconciliation bill that will amend the original "Senate bill" that Mr. Obama signed this morning, and Republicans are ready to offer scores of amendments to draw out the process as long as possible.

"I think it should be noted that this bill that we're dealing with, the reconciliation bill, is the fourth major step forward in the push to drive this country down a road towards a European-style government," Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican in the Senate Budget Committee, said today.

In fact, the reconciliation bill is a measure intended to resolve the problems Democrats had with the "Senate bill," which passed the Senate in December and the House on Sunday. For instance, the reconciliation bill would strip the reform package of many of the specials deals that made the bill politically toxic, like the so-called "Cornhusker Kickback." It would also, at the behest of lawmakers interested in protecting labor unions, push back the "Cadillac" tax on high-priced insurance plans until 2018.

The House passed the reconciliation measure on Sunday, after it passed the Senate bill, and the Senate had to wait until the main piece of legislation became law before addressing the reconciliation bill. The reconciliation process only requires 51 votes to pass a bill, but it may only be used on provisions that impact the federal budget.

While it is unlikely Republicans will be able to bring down the reconciliation bill, they can at least stall its passage by introducing countless amendments to be considered. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hopes to wrap up the debate by Friday or Saturday, the Hill reports.

Gregg told reporters the GOP will offer "a series of substantive amendments, the purpose of which is to try to correct some of the fundamental flaws" of the main legislation. He added, "I know we can't fix it really because it's such a terrible bill."

A portion of the GOP's objections to the bill will address whether its provisions actually follow the rules of reconciliation, Politico reports, though Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said the bill is "completely clean."

Supporters of the Democrats' health care reform package are accusing the GOP of introducing worthless amendments to simply foil the process. The AFL-CIO, the influential federation of labor organizations, said it expects Republicans to introduce amendments that Democrats would normally support, in order to compel Democrats to vote for them and complicate the bill with more amendments.

"Any amendment offered during this process is nothing more than a poison pill," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. "A 'NO' on amendments is a 'YES' on health care."

The AFL-CIO says it will stand behind senators who vote for the bill but against any amendments, even on issues they would normally support.

If any amendments pass and the reconciliation bill is altered, it would have to go back to the House for yet another vote. It is likely the House would be able to round up the votes once again, since they passed the measure once already, but it would slow down the process.

While labor unions intend to support legislators who back the health care bill, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said today that trumpeting congressional votes will work in the Republicans' favor. He cited the new CBS News poll showing that few Americans expect to benefit from this legislation.

"You're going to see this become I think one of the signature issues in the November 2010 election," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the GOP's campaign slogan will be "repeal and replace."

More Coverage of Health Care Reform:

Health Care Bill Signed by Obama
Biden Swears at Bill Signing: Just Biden Being Biden?
Poll: Most Say Health Care Fight About Politics, Not Policy
Poll: Most Give Obama Credit for Health Care Bill
GOP Looks to Courts, Polls to Repeal Health Care Bill
Obama Has Work Cut Out for Him to Sell Health Care Bill
RNC's Steele: Dems Thumbed Their Nose at America
Health Care Reform: Which Party Comes Out on Top?
Marc Ambinder: Nine Events That Led to Passage of Health Care Reform
Mark Knoller: Health Care Debate Shows Ideological Split
The Historic Health Care Push: A Look Back
Rush Limbaugh: "America is Hanging by a Thread"
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Details of the Bill:
Summary of What's in the Bill
Provisions Which Take Effect in Short-Term
Uninsured? What the New Bill Means for You
Already Insured? Get Ready to Pay More
Calorie Counts Coming to Many Food Menus
College Aid Reform Passes with Health Bill
Read the Text (PDF): Complete Senate Bill | Reconciliation Measure

[Alyssa1982]

Ah.. nothing better represents america than old white male republicans.
Someone should put these old fogies out to pasture... I recommend Texas.

[bradkt1]

As a Democrat, I know what the Republicans are going to do...anything to change the language of the House approved bill so that it has to go back to the House for yet another vote...anything to delay and obstruct.

Harry Reid says that he has at least 51 votes for the House bill. I hope so and that the Senate simply votes down all amendments, whether they would benefit a Democratic senator's home state or not.

The bottom line is that this Democrat just plain doesn't trust the Senate Democrats to do the right thing and finally get the job done. If the Senate takes the GOP's bait and changes the House bill by a single word, I predict that Democrats like me all across the country will run Democratic senators all out of town on a rail come November.

I'll believe that the Senate is going to do the right thing when I see it...and not one moment sooner...

...but I'll be watching...and so will a lot of other Democrats.

Play more politics with this at your political peril!

[NYPD1966]

wow you are so smart...you are just restating the article above.
after the thuggery that was used to pass this crap...why not use some of the same hardball tactics? The democrats are in political peril without your help!

[jgg000101]

what I can't believe is that no one is reporting on the complete government takeover of student loans that was also sandwiched into this bill. We are quickly becoming servants to the government instead of the government being a servant of the people.

[eightsigma]

The government is doing what we elected it to do.

[jschmidt27]

Hasn't passed yet- Senate has to vote and the cornhusker bribe senator is against it as it affects a major employer in his state.

[VoteNoObama2012]

VoteNoObama2012.com

ccording to the Congressional Research Service, 19 reconciliation measures have been enacted into law since the procedure?s first use in the Carter administration. The record shows that reconciliation has been used for virtually all imaginable scenarios ? save one: There is no precedent for using it to enact a once-in-a-generation rewrite of the relationship between Americans and their government that appeals exclusively to one side of the aisle. But that is exactly what Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is attempting to do. According to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, a plurality of the American people strongly oppose this procedural tactic for this highly unpopular policy.

[eightsigma]

Opinion is starting to turn in our favor. Watch what happens over the next month.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Slim-Margin-Americans-Support-Healthcare-Bill-Passage.aspx

[jschmidt27]

eightsigma- the Gallup showed less than 50% arprove of the bill. 49% to be exact. Not a majority.

[stormerF2]

Sickening all the specail deals,that have to be made so Dimocrats will support their Messiah? Can not see how they are going to spend one dollar twice for 2 seperate items? It is in the bill,just look.

[eightsigma]

Please elaborate.

[quietfireII]

Republicans tried to scare House Democrats into not voting for the Senate bill because of all the "kickbacks". They claimed you will be punished in November. Now that the House has passed the Senate bill and included an Amendment to remove the "kickbacks",the Republicans want to block the Amendment??? Too funny!

[jgg000101]

They removed Ben Nelson's Nebraska deal. The others are still there.
Have you heard mary landreau explain why Louisiana is still getting their kickback? Now, that is really too funny.

[jschmidt27]

Don't forget the gift for Dodd- $100 million for a hospital. Of course the bankrupt state will have to come up with $200 million more to build it. But I'm sure Dodd just wants his name on a building. Thanks Dodd-for nothing. And Stupak got the bribe for his district for airport modifications at airports that get less traffic than Murtha's airport in PA. This bill was a disgrace for the bribes in it. And the tax increases for the middle class.

[RodinsThinker]

While Congress has the constitutional authority to "regulate" commerce, "regulate" does not "equate" to forceful enslavement under compulsion of financial penalty to buy what is being regulated.

[eightsigma]

That sounds like a good argument for single-payer.

[jschmidt27]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajwSWE6H1kHM
Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania are among 14 states that filed suit after the president signed the bill over the constitutionality of the burden imposed by the legislation. The health-care overhaul will make as many as 15 million more Americans eligible for Medicaid nationwide starting in 2014 and will cost the states billions to administer.
Medicaid spent more than $344 billion in 2008, about 15 percent of total national health-care expenditures that year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which administers the program. It currently covers 60 million, about the same as Medicare, the federal program for the elderly and disabled, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California.
Florida will have to spend an additional $1.6 billion for Medicaid and hire 1,000 new workers to accommodate the overhaul, the state?s Attorney General Bill McCollum said yesterday in Orlando, Florida.

?This is a bad bill,? he said. ?That?s a political determination and a practical one.?

The states that sued are Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington, McCollum said in a statement on his office?s Web site.

The complaint posted on the Florida attorney general?s Web site called the legislation an ?encroachment on the sovereignty of states,? and said Florida will be asked to ?broaden its Medicaid eligibility standards to accommodate upwards of 50 percent more enrollees.?

[eightsigma]

Although the Colorado AG has joined, Colorado voted for change in the last election. The AG doesn't represent the Governor or the electorate on this one.

[soap-suds]

I would like for Cornyn and McConnell to show the arithmetic of how they are going to force a repeal in the Sentate after the November 2010 election.

[velma179]

It is amazing how myopic the Republican Congress members are. They have been listening to Frank Luntz way too much, it seems.

By opposing the reconciliation bill, they actually are supporting the "Cornhusker Kickback" etc. that are certainly onerous parts of the Senate bill that is now law.

The more people become informed about the new law, the more the (R) game of "repeal and do the same old nothing we have always done" will be revealed as nothing but political posturing with no adherent truth.

But, I imagine these hearings will bring on sound bites and video snippets of a different nature (just like the many already in the can from the House event -- crass and ugly language included), one that may not be to the liking of the RNCC and their team.
It seems the Republicans have thrown out a gauntlet for the November elections and they intend to play as dirty as they can. I doubt the Democrats will sit back and let them build any more houses of sand.

Game on. It should be interesting ... though tiresome and oh so, repetitive, not to mention soul numbingly disgusting (I include both parties and the outside interests now allowed in this comment).

There have been countless ads on TV for the Republican primary in our race for a new Governor here already! I think I may be watching only the Food Network and HGTV come summer... :)

[stormerF2]

You really have been at the koolaid bowl.

[velma179]

I drink wine.


You whine!

Ha!