Democratic Senate leaders are fiercely lobbying their rank and file to hold the line against GOP efforts to change the final piece of their yearlong push to overhaul the nation’s health care system.
Knowing that they need only 51 votes to push a reconciliation bill to final passage, Democratic leaders are telling their senators that each Republican amendment is a “poison pill” that would derail the process. The reconciliation bill is designed to fix the health care legislation that President Barack Obama will sign into law Tuesday.
But with little to lose at this point, Senate Republicans are planning an onslaught of politically sensitive amendments to a health care reconciliation bill, searching high and low for any way to derail the final legislation.
Republicans suffered a defeat on a key parliamentary ruling Monday night, but GOP aides say they’ve discovered drafting errors in the legislation that would force the Senate parliamentarian to rule in their favor — and send the reconciliation bill back to the House one more time.
Republicans will have plenty of opportunities to make life difficult, ranging from amendments to save Medicare Advantage from cuts to blocking taxes on the middle class.
Democrats are also urging fellow senators to withstand the temptation to offer amendments of their own, allowing the party to finalize the legislation this week and move on to jobs and financial reform.
Thus far, senior Democrats have had some success urging liberals to hold off on an amendment to establish a public insurance option. - Politico Story
No comments:
Post a Comment