Shortcut for Health Care
On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Democrats are making plans to use a shortcut to send a health care bill to the president, whether the Republicans vote for it or not. No top Democrat has ever before confirmed an open secret in Washington like Pelosi did. Democrats say the plan is for the House to pass the Senate bill and send it to the president. They also want a package of changes that are similar to the president's plan. To pass, it would need only 51 votes in the Senate.
Pelosi publicly laid out the plans. She said the first step of all this is figuring out exactly what the package will be. Pelosi talked about possibly incorporating a few Republican ideas from the health care summit on Thursday. Nancy Pelosi was quoted saying, “Maybe we can find some positive suggestions from what they were talking about there.” Republicans, though, have made it quite clear they do not support a large health care bill, so chances of them accepting the Democrat's ideas are unlikely.
Democrats are looking at two issues. One is how this complicated process could work, both good and bad, and if the Senate and House will supply the needed votes. One of the questions they're asking is what they can pass through the reconciliation process. The reconciliation process is only supposed to be used for legislation that affects the deficit and taxes. Another question they have is if it is possible to pass the changes before the House votes on the Senate bill. Lots of the Democrats in the House say that's the only way they would agree with the idea. They said that they do not like the Senate bill and do not trust the Senate to stick to their promise to pass the compromise package. Overall, the biggest challenge at the moment is the process.
One major challenge facing the Democrats is if they will have enough votes to go through with the plan. They're unsure if there will be a 51-vote majority in the Senate to finalize health care with the shortcut. They face the chance of many pro-life Democrats voting “no” because the bill, they say, is not strict enough in making sure the money from taxpayers are not spent on abortion procedures. Democratic leaders are reminding the public that Republicans have used the shortcut many times before. Some Democrats are concerned about a public backlash resulting because of accusations by Republicans that they cheated the process. President Obama is expected to make an announcement about the health care bill around Wednesday of next week.
I see nothing wrong with Democrats taking the 'shortcut' to get a health care bill passed. We need it, and we need it fast. I know good things take time, and I've been willing to wait for it to come. But in the circumstance of health care, the faster the better. As I read about how the Democrats fear the accusations of Republicans, I just had to laugh. Of course the Republicans would accuse the Democrats of doing something 'wrong' that they themselves have already done. But if the Democrats were to accuse Republicans of something, the only response you would be able to hear coming out of the mouths of Republicans would be, “We do nothing wrong!” Anyway, sorry for the anti-Republican moment. No offense to anyone.
I also worry about the chance of a 51-vote majority in the Senate. Do you think it will happen? I'm bracing myself for disappointment on this one (in other words, not reaching 51-votes by a short margin), but I think there is probably a good possibility that they could reach it. After all, health care is a big topic and it does need to be resolved ASAP. To the pro-life Democrats who are even thinking about voting “no” just because the subject of abortion isn't strong enough in the bill, suck it up. This is health care! Yes, abortion does roll into the category of health, but it's not abortion we're concentrating on! Please look at the big picture and the important small details, not the unimportant tiny ones. That can be left for another time. I'm anxious to hear what President Obama will say next week, and hopefully something good will happen with health care soon!
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