Obama plan to fast track health overhaul faces fight in Congress
WASHINGTON – Even after President Barack Obama gave them his blessing Wednesday to push ahead hard and fast on health care, congressional Democrats remained uncertain and divided over whether they can finally pass the legislation.
Liberals and moderates both expressed concern about "reconciliation," the fast-track procedure Obama endorsed. It strips the Senate minority of the ability to filibuster, which requires 60 of 100 senators to overcome.
"I don't like the reconciliation idea," said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., one of the moderates. "It does give the appearance of trying to ram something through."
Under the plan, the measure could be passed after 20 hours of debate with 51 Senate votes and 216 in the House of Representatives. Democrats control 59 Senate votes and 254 in the House.
Republicans say the reconciliation process isn't intended to be used for big, substantive policy legislation, but rather only for deficit-reduction measures.
Obama endorsed the procedure to pass his top-priority national health care overhaul, saying that he's willing to stake Democrats' fortunes on it.
"I don't know how this plays politically, but I know it's right," the president said in remarks from the East Room of the White House, flanked by white-coated nurses and doctors nearly a year after he began his push for a bipartisan bill.
"At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem," Obama said. "The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. They are waiting for us to act. They are waiting for us to lead."
If Democrats pass an overhaul, it's likely that they will have to do it without a single Republican vote.
Republican senators vowed to find other procedural tactics to stall the health bill, and warned that Democrats were making a big political mistake.
"History is clear: Big legislation always requires big majorities. And this latest scheme to lure Democrats into switching their votes in the House (of Representatives) by agreeing to use reconciliation in the Senate will be met with outrage," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
While no timetable for action was announced, lawmakers are likely to consider the legislation this month under a two-step process that will require a House vote on the version that the Senate approved on Dec. 24. The reconciliation process then would be used to make changes in that Senate version, and would need approval by both chambers.
Many liberals aren't pleased, since the Senate bill lacks a government-run health insurance program, or public option, which the House endorsed late last year.
"The more the bill looks like the Senate version, the less likely I am to be supportive," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, also decried the lack of a public option, saying it was eliminated "because of a backroom deal."
Moderate Democrats also were unhappy. "I don't think I could vote for the Senate bill," said Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, one of 54 moderate-to-conservative Blue Dogs.
Thirty-nine House Democrats opposed the original House version, and many of them face tough re-election prospects in November in districts that voted in 2008 for Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate.
Obama never used the term "reconciliation." However, he said that health care deserved "the same up-or-down vote" as other major pieces of legislation that passed through reconciliation during the past three decades, including a welfare overhaul, tax cuts, and the expansion of medical coverage for children and laid-off workers.
The president also said that there's been enough debate and that several Republican ideas would be included in a final package.
"This is our proposal. This is where we've ended up," Obama said. "Everything there is to say about health care has been said, and just about everyone has said it."
To not act, he said, would embolden insurance companies, cost more Americans coverage and delay a health care overhaul for a decade or longer.
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