Democrats to Congressional GOP: Come Up With A Constructive Idea On Health Care Reform or Fuck Off
In a memo that was drafted and circulated on background in April, Senate Democrats made the case that using a budget reconciliation bill to pass health care reforms is perfectly within their rights, given the Republicans' promiscuous use of the same tactic when they were in power. Excerpts of the memo were published by various news outlets back in the spring, but the memo doesn't appear to have been previously been published in its entirety until now . And now, with Democrats ramping up the threat that they'll invoke the process in the fall, they're rehashing those same arguments. "
[S]hould Republicans choose not to cooperate [on health care reform], the inclusion of reconciliation instructions [in the budget] provides a backup option which could be used to prevent a filibuster and approve legislation by a majority vote," the memo reads. "[T]here is nothing unprecedented or unusual about the use of reconciliation."
And from the House of Representatives:
...House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reminded everyone yesterday why it's important to still be watching what the House will do as well, especially if the Senate passes a version of the health care bill that does not include the public option or other provisions supported by liberal members of Congress.
In a news conference in San Francisco, Bloomberg reports, Pelosi made clear that a health care bill in the chamber must include a government-sponsored health insurance plan to compete with private insurers.
"There's no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option," she said.
And from the White House:
After fruitlessly seeking a bipartisan compromise on health care reform for months, the White House seems to have finally realized that Republicans have no interest in compromising and that progressives are fed up with making nice. Now, the administration is preparing to go it alone, even if that means passing reform on a straight party-line vote.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and even President Obama himself have all suggested that they don't think the GOP is serious about reaching a bipartisan health care reform compromise--and with key Republicans suggesting that they'll vote against a bill that doesn't also have the support of a majority of their own party, it's only one logical step to the conclusion that the administration has accepted that health care reform will be the latest initiative to move forward along party lines.
*tapping shoes...*
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