In Senate Reform Bill Plight, Democrats Overcome One Obstacle to Face Another

[This article posted on November 23, 2009. It is posted within the following categories: CMS, Corporate, Healthcare Policy & The Media, Politics & The Law, via Michael Douglas, MD, MBA.]

Senate Democrats were able to secure 60 votes to carry the health reform bill to a debate. Last weekend’s action (which primarily was up to four moderately conservative Dem senators) was the easy part. The difficult task of taking the bill to a vote of ‘yea’ will be a much different issue altogether. One thing’s for certain. It won’t happen before Thanksgiving.

As a matter of fact, even though debate will be in the offing in December, don’t be surprised if the bill doesn’t come toward a vote until later in the winter — perhaps Jan. or Feb. Obama’s strict end-of-year timetable for the ultimate decision could be loosening somewhat. Democrats will need the time. Navigation toward ultimate agreement between the conservative and liberal wings of the Democratic caucus will be the sticking point. The party will need all the time it can muster just to get unity in order to proceed.

The bill in its current form is one matter. But what about the ancillaries? The Stupak abortion issue, or tax increases needed to implement the reform. Democrats will need a “solid sixty” on all fronts. All of this hand-wringing makes passage and ultimate merging[1] in conference seem a million miles away. | LINK

  1. If the Senate passes the bill, a congressional conference committee will then need to merge the House and Senate proposals into a consensus version requiring final approval from each chamber before moving to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. [↩]

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2 Responses to “In Senate Reform Bill Plight, Democrats Overcome One Obstacle to Face Another”

  1. Michael Kirsch, M.D says:
    November 24, 2009 at 7:19 AM

    Now, the real legislative sausage making begins. I don’t have any doubt that Reid will get his 60 votes. Sure, Landrieu, Nelson and Lincoln will strut and squawk, but they will ultimately fall in line. They will claim that their principled objections helped to ‘improve’ the final bill. Of course, there will be unrelated pet projects that just happen to benefit their respective districts. This is the world of politics. I think that the conference committee process will be more tense. Will the House’s beloved public option survive? http://www.MDWhistleblower.blogspot.com

  2. Michael Douglas, MD, MBA says:
    November 24, 2009 at 1:30 PM

    I agree, while the environment in which the Senate must come to an agreement (debate) will be milked by the media for all its worth, the real nuts and bolts occur after that process and before the signature of the Prez’s executive ballpoint.

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