The President says finish health care with an up-or-down vote - 46 Senators open to reconciliation
Posted on March 4th, 2010 by Jason Rosenbaum in Congress Watch
 |
Yesterday, President Obama endorsed finishing health care reform with an up-or-down vote:
…I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform. We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children's Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts - all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority.
By calling for an up-or-down vote and referencing welfare reform, CHIP, COBRA, and the Bush tax cuts - all of which got their up-or-down votes using the reconciliation process - the President was very clearly asking the Senate to use the same process for health reform.
The Senate agrees.
Just over one month ago today, 15 Senators were in favor of or very open to the idea of finishing health reform using reconciliation. I reported their statements here.
As of today, 46 Senators either support or are open to using reconciliation to secure an up-or-down vote. Click here for the chart and links to their statements. If you add in the few other Senators who are listed as maybe, you bring the total up above 50.
The movement, fueled in a large part by dozens of Senators signing on to a letter from Senator Bennett calling for a public option to be passed through reconciliation, is striking. And, as reported in today's Roll Call, the last five Senators, coming from the moderate wing of the party, are likely to come on board soon:
Senate Democratic centrists aren’t saying “yes” just yet, but when it comes to passing a crucial piece of the health care reform puzzle, party leaders have reason to be optimistic that enough of their most fickle Members will put them over the top.
With few exceptions, Democratic moderates interviewed Wednesday revealed little resistance to the idea of using controversial budget reconciliation rules to clear the final health care reform package and deliver it to the president’s desk. Given their strong opposition to embracing this strategy when health care was being debated last year, their fresh openness could prove significant even if some moderates ultimately vote “no.”
“There are plenty of people in our caucus who would like to not vote for reconciliation, but my guess is 51 is something [leadership] can get,” said one Democratic Senator of the simple-majority vote needed for passage. “This is like a box canyon, and reconciliation is the only way out.”
One person who's not on the list is the new spokesperson for the Senate Democratic Communications Center, Republican Senator Judd Gregg:
This is the way health reform will be finished. The reconciliation process will allow fixes the Senate bill to make health care truly affordable for everyone and hold the insurance companies accountable. And there will be the votes in the Senate to do it.
Pass the health insurance reform bill. Since all the Republicans care to do is obstruct something that would benefit the Americans working poor use reconciliation. It has been used before for less important things. This is too long overdue. Single payer would have been nice, but I would accept any effort to help make health care for everyone something that people can afford, and still pay their rent/mortgage,and be able to eat. Reasonably price health coverage should be a right not a something that is denied due to illness, or lack of income.
President Obama should press ahead with his health care initiatives instead of being a perfectly nice person to get agreement from everyone; perfection is difficult to achieve. He has the power, he campaigned on delivering this service and now he should get on with it. He is a nice person as indicated by reaching out to the other side already but trying to get everyone onside is becoming a sign of weakness. Many of his political enemies do not want health care and they do not want the Democratic Party to get the praise of future generations for having given the American people this need. They are satisfied with the status quo not realizing just how paralysing an absence of proper medical care is for their fellow citizens. They are interested only in winning or at least, not losing and no matter what you try to introduce they will differ with it; they think that everything can be done with the dollar as long as they are calling the shots. Let his enemies accuse Mr. Obama of raw ambition, communism, socialism or whatever else. He has denounced these accusations and anyone who is listening to him can see they have no bases in fact. Get a plan out there and if the Democratic party also gets the praise for this service it’s not that bad of a label; the Republicans had their chances to do the same but didn't have the desire to do so. In the meantime while the politicians doodle their citizens do without a basic need. A smooth-running Government fills the need, not wants, that no other sector of society fills to the best that their finances allow. Now that he has completed his present round of town hall meetings and having explained what he is trying to accomplish Mr. Obama should push (and, yes ram) his proposals into law. If others are playing with the truth so be it but he knows what he wants, what the American people want, and what he was elected to do by the majority of the American people. The longer he tries to get yet another person on side the longer some citizen is doing without the care necessary to regain health; it becomes the game of diminishing returns with the possibility of losing the game because of what is appearing to be indecision being unsure and being irresolute. And you know what perception is in politics!