Harkin: Reconciliation is a goSen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.
Harkin made the comments after a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office including Harkin and Sens. Baucus, Dodd, Durbin, Schumer and Murray.
When asked whether the leaders had made the decision, Durbin said: "We are moving ahead with a version of the health care reform bill that we believe has a good chance of passing both the House and the Senate."
He then put the onus on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to signal whether she can provide enough votes to pass the Senate bill, followed by a package of fixes through reconciliation.
"The first step is with Speaker Pelosi and so I will let her decide what it takes in the House," Durbin said.
Reconciliation "has always been an option. But she has to make her own decision on what it takes to enact this in the House," he added.
Durbin said Democrats are "coming to closure" on legislative language to send to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost estimate -- a step that can take weeks. "It has not been sent yet, but we are hoping it can be sent soon."
It remains unclear what kind of guarantee the Senate can provide to the House that the upper chamber will make fixes to the bill, Durbin said.
"I don't know what the gesture will be but it will be a convincing gesture," he said.
http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0310/Harkin_Reconciliation_is_a_go.html And because I like this wording better...
And...
Thune: GOP preparing to slow or block health bill in Senate debateRepublicans are preparing to raise points of order and other roadblocks to the healthcare bill, a member of the Senate GOP leadership said Tuesday evening.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the fourth-ranking Senate Republican who serves as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, said the GOP is prepared for a number of scenarios in which they would seek to slow down or halt passage of healthcare legislation once it comes back before the Senate.
"I still think it creates a lot of problems when it comes back to the Senate because there will be lots of points of order that will lie against the bill in the Senate, and obviously, we will, hopefully, have the opportunity to raise some of those," Thune said of the health bill during an appearance on Fox News.
At issue is the new bill of healthcare legislation changes the House is expected to pass under budget reconciliation rules. Under those rules, the legislation only has to achieve a simple majority in the Senate instead of the 60 normally needed to end a filibuster. Such a maneuver would effectively sidestep Republican opposition to the health bill.
"You know, I don't want to concede that it's going to pass for sure yet," Thune said. "I still think that there's a lot of clock left in this game."
Republicans have fewer procedural options under reconciliation rules, which limits debate and is designed to eventually force votes on a piece of legislation. The GOP might object, though, for instance, to whether the new legislation is germane to the budget. These points are decided by the Senate parliamentarian, but could be overruled by the president of the Senate.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/84681-thune-gop-preparing-to-slow-or-block-health-bill-in-senate-debate And more....
They'll make them pinky swear on it or something.
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