In The Blogs

Healthcare Behind the Scenes

| Sun Jan. 31, 2010 10:49 AM PST

Here's the latest from the LA Times on the forecast for passing healthcare reform:

President Obama's campaign to overhaul the nation's healthcare system is officially on the back burner as Democrats turn to the task of stimulating job growth, but behind the scenes party leaders have nearly settled on a strategy to salvage the massive legislation.

....House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) particularly want to give members time to recover from the shock of Republican Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate race two weeks ago. The election cost Democrats their filibuster-proof Senate majority.

But in the coming weeks, Pelosi and Reid hope to rally House Democrats behind the healthcare bill passed by the Senate while simultaneously trying persuade Senate Democrats to approve a series of changes to the legislation using budget procedures that bar filibusters.

....Despite the hurdles, there is a growing consensus that a modified Senate bill may offer the best hope for enacting a healthcare overhaul. "The more they think about it, the more they can appreciate that it may be a viable . . . vehicle for getting healthcare reform done," said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), president of the Democratic freshman class in the House.

I guess I should stop even pretending to know what's going on. A "growing consensus" about passing the Senate bill and then modifying it sounds crazy to me. How obvious does it have to be that this is the only possible route forward before everyone in the Democratic caucus figures it out? And is giving House members time to "recover from the shock" of Scott Brown's victory really likely to stiffen their spines?

I don't know. Maybe this is the only way to go. And the Times does say that behind the scenes party leaders "are meeting almost daily to plot legislative moves while gently persuading skittish rank-and-file lawmakers to back a sweeping bill." That's good to hear, at least. But honestly, I don't know if reading this piece makes me more hopeful or less. Click the link and decide for yourself.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

I guess you either have faith

Submitted by g. powell on Sun Jan. 31, 2010 10:53 AM PST.

I guess you either have faith that the Dem leadership knows what it is doing, or you don't.

I don't do too well on questions of faith.

Faith: On election day in a

Submitted by Cassandra of Troy (not verified) on Sun Jan. 31, 2010 6:37 PM PST.

Faith: On election day in a bar a friend came in and said he had just voted. I said, "Oh, a man of faith." He said, "Yes, I suppose. Did you vote?" I said, "No, it takes more faith in man to vote than it does to go to church and I haven't been in one of those since... I can't even remember."

They are waiting for ...

Submitted by RMRobinson on Sun Jan. 31, 2010 11:29 AM PST.

The liberal blogosphere to get bored and STFU, so they can get on with their work.

We, the generic we, have been none too helpful through this whole process. We pushed for a public option, and all that did was allow Joe Lieberman to get some sweet (for him) revenge. Then we screamed bloody murder and helped create the perception that the plan is unpopular.

When did any blogger have a good word to say for the Senate bill, before it became the only viable game in town? And lately we've all been pretty quick with the pre-mortems.

Congress has gotten 99 percent of the way to substantial health reform, which the conventional wisdom never expected. The Senate health bill does not turn into a pumpkin at midnight. So far as I can tell, instead of losing more nerve with each passing day, with each day they are realizing that passing the bill is the least worst option for them.

So maybe a little less 'panic about panic' is in order?

Timing is everything?

Submitted by PTate in MN on Sun Jan. 31, 2010 12:13 PM PST.

I read the thoughtful post on Howard Zinn before I read this. I was inspired by Zinn's comment:

"What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction."

So I have no clue what the Democratic leadership is thinking either. I would like to believe that our Democratic leadership would behave magnificently, but after a decade of disappointment, the only way to deal with their chronic feebleness of response is to accept with great sadness that magnificence is beyond them. My only consolation, the only reason I will continue to vote Democratic, is that some of them ARE better than the Republicans. Republicans are the worst.

"How obvious does it have to

Submitted by urban legend on Sun Jan. 31, 2010 1:26 PM PST.

"How obvious does it have to be that this is the only possible route forward before everyone in the Democratic caucus figures it out?"

And how long will it take them to figure out that trying to get some worthless "agreement" on a reconciliation vote is just wasting time and making the Democrats and Obama look worse and worse every day? When, furthermore, will they recognize that the most prominent of the progressive bloggers have signed onto the "sign the damn bill" movement, and how tiny a sliver of the Democratic base it is that is willing to kill everything because of the compromises in the Senate bill?

It is continuing political pressure on the 51 necessary Democrats that will determine the extent of modification, not some unenforceable agreement between two separate houses of Congress. Continuing to negotiate before just doing it, besides adding daily to the wussiness image of all Democrats, shredding the morale of those who worked to put them all into office and raising severe doubts about the truthfulness of Obama's supposed commitment, also looks terrible because it is just another of those Washington backroom deals we all are supposed to hate so much.

It sure looks like there's some agenda here we don't know about.

Hopeful?

Submitted by El Midd (not verified) on Mon Feb. 1, 2010 4:23 AM PST.

I'm never MORE hopeful when I read about Democrats. In the case of HCR, either it happens or it doesn't. I'm willing to make phone calls and send faxes or email, but reading about strategizing Democrats just depresses me.

Besides, the more I read about Harry Reed, Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, etc. the less I want to be associated with the Democratic Party. It should have taken them about five minutes to figure out the best way to get the bill passed (ten for freshmen). And it shouldn't have taken any time at all for them to get over the shock of Brown winning, since, by the time he won, it wasn't a surprise anymore.

They act like children...stupid children...stupid, spineless children. I guess that's why it would seem appropriate if they tossed the donkey and adopted the young slug in its stead. The young slug: not exactly brain surgeon material; no spine; and slimy as hell. Sounds like a perfect fit.

Jeez, I'm getting more cynical and bitter every day.