Pelosi: Senate Health Care Bill Can't Pass in the House
"I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," Pelosi told reporters today.
After the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Senate Republicans now have enough votes to filibuster any kind of compromise health care bill Democrats bring back to the Senate. That leaves Democrats with few choices for passing a health care bill -- one possibility would be for the House to pass the version already passed in the Senate.
However, the speaker made clear today that House Democrats cannot accept certain provisions of the Senate bill, such as the excise tax on high-end insurance plans or the deal Sen. Ben Nelson arranged to exempt his home state of Nebraska from having to pay for any Medicaid expansion.
"Unease would be a gentle word in terms of my colleagues' attitude toward certain provisions of the Senate bill," she said. "There are certain things members just cannot support."
Pelosi did not rule out, however, the possibility of passing the Senate bill at some point in the House.
"Everything is on the table," she said. She emphasized again, however, that the chances of passing the Senate bill are slim.
"In every meeting we have had there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now," she said.
Pelosi said Democrats are taking their time to consider their options and will not give up on the bill. While Tuesday's election "diminished by one the number of [Democrats] in the Senate," she said, "it has not diminished the need for affordable, quality health care reform."
"We have to get a bill passed, we know that," she said.
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