White House looks at passing health care without new Senate vote if GOP wins in Massachusetts

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

January 17, 2010 - 4:26 PM

BOSTON - A panicky White House and Democratic allies scrambled Sunday for a plan to salvage their hard-fought health care package in case a Republican wins Tuesday's Senate race in Massachusetts, which would enable the GOP to block further Senate action.

The likeliest scenario would require persuading House Democrats to accept a bill the Senate passed last month, despite their objections to several parts.

Aides worked frantically Sunday amid fears that Republican Scott Brown will defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the late Edward M. Kennedy's seat. A Brown win would give the GOP 41 Senate votes, enough to filibuster and block final passage of the House-Senate compromise on health care now being crafted.

House Democrats, especially liberals, viewed those compromises as vital because they view the Senate-passed version as doing too little to help working families. Under the Senate bill, 94 percent of Americans would be covered, compared to 96 precent in the House version. The House plan would increase taxes on millionaires while the Senate plan would tax so-called Cadillac, high-cost health insurance plans enjoyed by many corporate executives as well as some union members.

The House passed its own version last year, and members assumed it would be reconciled with the Senate bill and then sent back to both chambers for final approval by the narrowest of margins.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/y8t8o53

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vincardog]

2. The Senate bill as is is an abortion. It is nothing but a giveaway to the same Parasitic Corporation

responsible for the USA having the Highest cost of medical care and some of the worst results.

[dkf]

3. Wow would they really do this to the unions?

Talk about ingrates.

[xchrom]

4. LOL! Nt

[depakid]

5. That's the ticket- make it even worse and amplify the dynamic that caused the loss

in the first place!

And set the party up for even bigger losses down the line.

[Aramchek]

7. there is no loss at present. your agenda is evident

Sorry, Crocodile Dundee, but nobody's buying the shit you're selling.

[depakid]

11. You seem to have difficulty with reading comprehension

the OP sets out a hypothetical and possible response (or probable response considering how insular and tone deaf some in the administration seem to be).

[Aramchek]

16. just stop. you have made it clear what you would prefer to happen.

it's sad, but not unexpected of an expatriate.

[TheEuclideanOne]

13. Make it worse?

So, the Republicans would block MORE THAN 100% of what the current administration is trying to accomplish and fix? I think that the Democrats should really be very clear that as long as the Republicans refuse to do ANYTHING, that they are no longer invited to play. If I were king for a day, I would say do 51 votes regardless of the outcome of the election. Throw some newspapers on the floor with the words OBSTRUCTIONISM painted all over them, grab a few Republicans by the collar and rub their faces in it. Say.....BAD!!.....BAD AMERICAN!!!!..... LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID! Maybe they will learn? Even if they don't, it would be good fun, IMHO.

[No Elephants]

26. Brown campaigned on being THE vote to block the health care bill.

(The emphasis on THE is in his ads.)

[leftygolfer]

6. All I know is, I need something

As do many of you. The status quo is the worst option. Sorry to vent, but this has consumed me. I worry more and more about my life - next week, next month and in five years. I hope I make it that long. We need this to pass.

[merwin]

15. I just took a pay cut in order to have my pregnant wife and

son qualify for state programs. Our state run basic health plan here in WA has a several year waiting period, and the only reason she will qualify is because she is pregnant... and only for a short time after childbirth. we have a 3k deductible on our private plan already and this is a new year, so all of that starts over. btw, did you know an ultrasound is over 500 dollars?

[Mithreal]

20. Something, really, anything, really.

PhRMA and insurers have their fingers crossed as well.

[Honeycombe8]

8. Why would W.H. want to pass a bill that most of their party members are against?

[No Elephants]

25. Do you have evidence that most Democrats oppose this bill?

Not challenging, just wondering.

[Guilded Lilly]

9. I know what I DON'T need

...Obstructionist, self-serving Republicans (who have no interest in the populace of this country but complete interest in being re-elected) getting anymore big (pig) headed about their power.

As a political party they have done way too much damage to the country already, in many instances losing their integrity and dignity along the way. They've screwed things up enough, thank-you. They have no intention of doing anything but screw things up some more, and basically NONE of it will help me...as a woman, as a citizen...and a middle class tax payer.

I can't even begin to say I understand well what will be in this final version of the Healthcare Bill.
On the surface, it has really pissed me off in many ways. But to give ANY power perceived or otherwise) whatsoever back to the party that cold-bloodedly wrecked this country for eight years is beyond comprehension.

Pass if for Fck Sake, then tweak it the best you can. Yes, I have been disappointed in the *Change* we haven't YET realized. But I will NOT EVER support the political party that shoved us heartlessly into this MESS with such abandon and pathetic apathy towards mainstream citizens rights and importance.

[blackbear79]

10. This is all about Obama, not us

What a pile of bullshit. This bill does nothing to help average folks. The White House is so desperate for a win that any funking thing that says Health Care is ok. This is not the change I voted for. If there is no public option or at least expansion of medicare than no bill is better. Yes, some uninsured, may be become insured, but at who's expense. Insured working people will continue to get price increases and be forced into the ranks of the uninsured. Seniors will loss health care options due to medicare cuts. Many states will have cost burdens, when they can't afford existing expenses. All this for what, so our Great President, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid can claim victory.

We need a Democratic Tea Party. Time for us to what the Right did, take to the streets. If we settle for this piece of shit, we get what we deserve...fucked up the ass.

Dean 2012

[bemildred]

12. This sounds like propaganda. nt

[wisteria]

19. I agree, something to get us arguing amoung ourselves. Coakley is not going to lose. n/t

[BP2]

14. Sorry, don't mean to be negative here, but

this SUCKS!

Yes, they need to hurry up and pass this bill, as much as it stinks, before the Yellow Dogs jump ship in the House.

[NorthCarolina]

17. How surprisingly convenient. It's what they wanted all along. eom

[wisteria]

18. We are not going to lose, but a plan B is always good to have on hand for anything this important.

[Mithreal]

21. I wonder which letters of the alphabet progressive solutions were.

[New Dawn]

22. The "health" insurance industry's minions will do anything to impose the Individual Mandate on us.

[golfguru]

23. Pass Single Payer with 50 votes

VP Biden being the 51st tie breaker.

And then no need to cut special deals for Nebraska, Louisiana, Unions, etc.

[No Elephants]

27. Surely, you joke. Single payer was never on the table.

Yet, it is the only plan discussed that was eligible for the budget reconciliation method.

Pending in the House since 2003, with almost 100 sponsors, none a one of whom even bothered to get it as far as the Congressional Budget office. Further, the President took it off the table from the primary forward.

And Sanders just about spelled it out: There are not the votes to pass single payer.

[emsimon33]

24. Ah, yes, perhaps pissing off the base was not a good idea!

They should have listened to Dean and the 65-70% of the voters who wanted, at the very least, a strong public option! If they think that Virginia, New Jersey, and the Massachusetts elections are bad, wait until the bloodbath of 2010.

WARNING: Do NOT marginalize your base!

[Tom Rinaldo]

28. So much for, yes it has big problems, but we can work to make it better in the Conference Committee

That strategy would be doubling down on disaster. Don't think the netroots are really part of the Democrats essential base? How about Unions?

[No Elephants]

29. The point of the OP is that the Senate bill will probably pass as is if Coakley loses.

So, I am not really sure what or whom your post addresses. It does not seem to be addressing the "original message."

As far as unions, Congress and the courts have done quite did a job on unions, haven't they? And so has lack of jobs.

[Tom Rinaldo]

35. I understod that

It's just that I know enough about politics to understand that the White House leaned hard on both liberal Congressional Democrats and non elected progressive leaders to rally liberal Democrats around HCR after the Senate version passed by holding out hope that we could all "work to improve the Senate version of the bill" in the Conference Committee and through amendments. This follows all the earlier talk about how we can't get single payer now but a public option will pave the way toward reaching that later as we work togeether to build upon it.

When Democrats worked to dampen liberal fury over the medicare buy in being taken out of the Senate Bill, all the talk was about how we could still work together to improve the bill, about how Obama would try to make the final bill closer to the House version etc. I didn't believe it then because I saw that centrist Dems in the Senate already felt emboldened, and sure enough there immediately followed ultimatums that only the basic Senate bill was acceptable to the Senate, and that was pretty much how it was shaping up outside of the final deal cut with unions.

There is a perverse consistency to this potential Democratic back up strategy; continued liberal concessions that alienate liberal activists, which is fundementally how we got to the point where we may lose the MA seat in the first place. The unions were the last to swallow the last set of compromises after fightijng hard for a tenth of a loaf give back regarding taxes on their so called "Cadillac healt care plans". This proposed back up stratgy for HCR should Coakley lose would yank back that hard won 1/10th loaf right out of their hands. Not a good way to keep friends and influence people.

And yeah, I unfortunately agree with your final obseraton.

[FrenchieCat]

30. FUCK "a panicky White House"......

What does AP want us to do, bend over and take their bullshit without saying anything
about how they write up their bullshit?

Geeze! Either we are crazy, or they are, or perhaps its both.

[No Elephants]

31. Yes, I noticed that. And even the NYT did pretty much the same thing.

[FrenchieCat]

34. Obama didn't look panicked to me.

Hell, he's not have a real super majority ever.

I asked my hubby about this, because he doesn't talk much about politics,
but he knows and talks with all of the politicos in the Bay Area.

He told me that Obama's job was always gonna be an uphill improbable situation....
that his odds are always long.....
and that this wasn't just limited to the story of his election...
and that the thing is that Obama knows this very well.
It's just the rest of us who don't seem to get that (he was talking about me).

[No Elephants]

32. I think the OP is correct. If Coakley loses, the Senate bill will pass the House as is.

Maybe even if she wins.

[BlueDemKev]

33. Pass the Senate Bill As Is, Fix it Later

If Coakley loses, the only thing that can save health care reform (and Obama's presidency for that matter) is for the House to pass the Senate bill (passed Dec. 24 with 60 votes) as it is and send it to the president for his signature. The law can be changed, amended, and fixed up later. At least we'll finally have the foundation laid for health care reform in our country.

If the Democratic Congress fails to pass a health care bill, they will face an already-displeased electorate this fall without having accomplished anything of substance since the 2008 election.

[Leopolds Ghost]

36. Why does the Republican Senate leadership want the current bill to pass?

They've already told their constituents they plan to let it pass and run against it in the fall -- 1994 all over again.

I bet the real problem here is too many people who don't remember 1994.

[BlueDemKev]

38. What are you talking about??

The Senate Republican Leadership is 100% OPPOSED to ANY KIND OF HEALTH CARE REFORM. They want to block passage of the president's top-domestic agenda to--as Sen. Jim DeMint put it--hand Obama "his Waterloo."

The Democrats' failure to pass health care reform in '94 led to their routing at the polls that year because SO MANY DEMOCRATIC VOTERS WERE SO DISILLUSIONED THEY STAYED HOME!!!

We CANNOT let that happen again now. A health care bill MUST be passed as soon as possible and Obama needs to sign it! You want the tea-baggers controlling Congress starting in 2011? I DON'T!!!!!!

[WilliamPitt]

37. "Panicky" White House?

My ass.

Coakley in a rout.