Dems agree that House will take up, tweak Senate healthcare bill

[babylonsister]

Dems agree that House will take up, tweak Senate healthcare bill
By Jared Allen - 01/05/10 10:31 PM ET


House and Senate leaders have formally agreed to bypass a bicameral conference committee to merge two healthcare bills, and have opted to instead “ping-pong” the Senate bill over to the House and back again, according to House leadership aides.

Aides said the agreement was reached during a Tuesday evening meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the top two Democrats from each chamber.

The Senate bill will serve as the vehicle by which Democrats hope to send a healthcare bill to Obama to sign into law. Under the “ping-pong” strategy, the House will take up the Senate bill and amend it, then send it back to the Senate for final approval.

The decision was made to scrap a conference committee out of concern that Republicans in both the House and the Senate would employ a series of procedural delaying tactics, only serving to delay the inevitable and frustrate the majority, aides said.

more...

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/74515-dems-agree-that-house-will-take-up-tweak-senate-healthcare-bill

[GOTV]

1. So Lieberman controls the house too?

[lostnfound]

2. Is this about disempowering R's? or the House Progressive Caucus?

Democratic leadership taking a bold move to overcome Republican opposition? That would be unusual.
I find it much easier to believe that this is a move to get an unacceptable bill passed in favor of the insurance companies, preventing changes that might otherwise be driven by public outcry against the mandates or in favor of a public option.

[babylonsister]

3. From C&L:

First of all, this isn't all that unusual - the Republicans used this exact same procedure more times than I can count during the Bush administration - and no, they didn't allow Democrats to take part. (I guess it's just that Selective Media Amnesia that sets in whenever the Democrats are in control.)

But using the tactic known as "ping ponging" is going to minimize formal input from the liberal House side, and for that, Reid is going to have to cough up some kind of significant concession.

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/ping-pong-dems-sidestep-formal-confer


This I think is to keep the rethugs out of it because all they want to do is delay. We'll see what the House and Senate comes up with that they can both live with.

[Pab Sungenis]

4. And thus

any hope of real reform dies.

[Clio the Leo]

5. Pelosi is going to push to end the anti-trust exemption...

http://twitter.com/wonkroom