Of Summits and “Tricks…”
Even as the President was briefing reporters this afternoon to insist that his proposed bipartisan summit would yield a “constructive debate” about health care and that he was “open to any ideas,” Speaker Pelosi’s top health care aide was quoted by CongressDaily saying Democrats were working to develop a “prenegotiated” package that would be “very close to being done” before the Easter recess, about six weeks away. He also noted that “there’s a trick” involved in passing the bill through the reconciliation process – to ensure that the legislation could be jammed through on a party-line vote.
In addition to undermining the notion that Democrats were “open to any ideas” on health care, some may find a particular irony in these comments, given that Speaker Pelosi in a House floor speech on December 8, 2003 criticized the way Republicans handled the House vote on the Medicare prescription drug bill: “The Republicans also run this Congress like the Republicans run Florida. They cannot accept the result of a vote.” Of course, Speaker Pelosi’s health advisor is now publicly advocating “tricks” so that Democrats can avoid the implications of Scott Brown’s election to the Senate – to say nothing of the message voters have been sending for months now, most recently in today’s new Gallup poll that has President Obama’s approval on health care at an all-time low.
Many Republicans may agree with Speaker Pelosi’s advisor that reconciliation is a “trick” – the question is, will the Democrats insist on imposing this “trick” on an American public that has rejected Democrats’ government takeover of health care?
Pelosi Aide Outlines Healthcare Endgame
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010
by Anna EdneyHouse Speaker Pelosi’s top healthcare adviser today outlined a plan that would allow both chambers to make changes to the Senate healthcare overhaul before the overhaul becomes law.
Wendell Primus said the plan is to have President Obama sign the Senate bill before signing the legislation making the changes, even though Congress will approve them in reverse to satisfy skeptical House members who refuse to pass the Senate bill before changes are made.
“The trick in all of this is that the president would have to sign the Senate bill first, then the reconciliation bill second, and the reconciliation bill would trump the Senate bill,” Wendell Primus told health policy experts gathered at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs.
Some have questioned whether rules would allow Congress to pass changes to a bill that is not yet law. House members have insisted both chambers approve the changes, which likely will go through the reconciliation process to require 51 votes rather than the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, before they pass they Senate bill.
Primus also mentioned bill drafters would need to use certain language to ensure the plan works, although he did not elaborate.
“There’s a certain skill, there’s a trick, but I think we’ll get it done,” he said.
Negotiators first must agree on changes.
The Senate parliamentarian still needs to weigh in, he added.
Despite all these complications, Primus said, lawmakers will be “very close to being done” with an overhaul by Easter recess.
He said the prenegotiated package would be based on agreements reached before Democrats lost their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate last month after the special election in Massachusetts won by GOP Sen. Scott Brown.
“It is quite conceivable that we could have a prenegotiated package much like a conference report, if you will,” he added.
Those agreements include changes to the Senate’s excise tax on high-cost plans so it hits fewer people; increased federal subsidies; a plan to close the coverage gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage; and elimination of a deal that Senate Majority Leader Reid made with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., to gain his vote.
Reid inserted a provision in the Senate overhaul bill that requires the federal government to cover Nebraska’s entire costs for a Medicaid expansion.
Sweetheart deals such as Nelson’s and additional deals between the White House and industries soured the American public on the bill, Primus said.
Obama attempted this week to revive the overhaul by announcing a bipartisan healthcare summit at the White House later this month. House Republican leaders sent a letter Monday to White House Chief of Staff Emanuel asking that governors and state legislators be invited as well, given at least 36 state legislators have introduced legislation allowing them to opt out of a federal overhaul.
“One of the fundamental problems with the approach the Obama administration has taken to health care is that it seems rooted in a Washington-knows-best mentality.” House Minority Leader Boehner said. “Excluding the voices of America’s governors and state legislators from the proposed ‘summit’ would compound this error.”