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Democrats Move the Goal Posts on Health Care Reform

By Philip Klein on 11.18.09 @ 12:31PM

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prepares to unveil his health care bill to Democrats at 5 p.m. today, President Obama has moved away from a year-end deadline to finish the health care bill, telling NBC that he expects to sign a bill by his State of the Union address, typically at end of January. But Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip, would not predict on CNN yesterday that Democrats would even get it done by then.

Should Reid release his bill tonight with a preliminary score by the Congressional Budget Office, he'll need to obtain 60 votes on a motion to proceed, allowing the bill to be brought to the floor. He was hoping to hold that vote this week, but it's not clear whether he even has the votes for this first procedural hurdle, and Republicans have a number of delaying tactics at their disposal. Today, the Senate GOP is reminding everybody of a letter sent by eight Democrats last month demanding a full CBO score before any procedural vote on the bill -- but the estimate expected later today will be preliminary. In addition, Sen. Tom Coburn may demand that the entire bill be read on the Senate floor, but Jonathan Cohn at TNR notes that Reid could respond by leaving the Senate open on Thanksgiving week, allowing Republicans who are so inclined to read the bill then.

Even assuming Reid has the votes to get the bill to the floor, the actual debate and amendment process won't commence before Nov. 30, the Monday after Thanksgiving. Reid and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have said that they intend to close Congress for the year on Dec. 18 -- giving them just 19 days, including weekends, to work with. Keep in mind they still have to pass a number of appropriations bills, and Hoyer is now promising an additional jobs bill, essentially another stimulus package.

Should Reid pass something in the Senate during this narrow window, the bill still has to be reconciled with the House version, and then it must pass both chambers again. But should the Stupak language and/or the government-run plan ultimately get stripped, it suddenly changes all of the vote calculations in the House.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Frances| 11.18.09 @ 5:31PM

I'm a supporter of Honor In Office

Take a look at this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhO38CPlAI
This is what happens when reading the bill is not important.

Gross government waste or violations routinely come about when the bills are not read. Witness: Bush Bailout, Stimulus Package, Patriot Act.

I don't care what Party a person belongs to. If a lawmaker is going to vote in favor of the bill, that person has a moral and fiduciary responsibility to read and thoroughly analyze the bill. This applies to any bill, not just the healthcare bill.

Competent deliberation is not possible if no one has read the bill. Read it. Understand it. Have a fine-tuning debate about it. Make the healthcare or any bill as good as it can be.

We've already had enough slipshod laws passed over the last decade. Let's get some good ones passed now.

Jerrol LeBaron
Executive Director
Honor In Office
www.HonorInOffice.org

Deborah Piccurelli| 11.18.09 @ 10:41PM

I also am a supporter of Honor In Office, and agree with Jerrol LeBaron. Legislators shouldn't vote for a bill they haven't fully read and grasped. This is common sense and would go a long way in improving legislation.

Deborah M. Piccurelli

Alan Eames| 11.20.09 @ 12:48AM

I want to know why our representatives think they don't have to read the bills, but they expect us to follow them.

Voting on legislation without reading it is not reresenting the interests of your constituents, but mis-representation and should be against the law.

Read the bills.

Aamir Farooq| 11.20.09 @ 2:37AM

Senators are smart folks- I'm sure they can speed read. No need to waste time reading the darned thing aloud- and who the heck cares when the bill passes? Debate is good, but stalling is bad. I'm 29 years old, an M.D. and our ERs are crap. We need all folks covered so I don't have to work 24/7 in the year 2050 (yes, I do want to retire someone around 70, but as things stand I'll have to wait until 80) worrying bout the next idiot who never realized he had diabetes until his right foot became gangrenous.

Aamir Farooq| 11.20.09 @ 2:46AM

Hmm...what if Lebron James was president (here's hoping someone else read Bill Simmons' Book of Basketball and has a passion for Naismith's game). Imagine if he ran Congress like a fast break and worked the Senate like he did the Pistons in that Game 7 at Auburn Hills- imagine that much will power steamrollin' thru as he lay's 48 points all over Saxby Chambliss...speaking of which, what a name, SAXBY. That handle would have fit Billie Clinton PRETTY good, huh? Ok I have no idea what I'm talking about but I have no idea who would actually read or post this and I won't even remember this website in the mornin so PEACE OUT all my BROTHERS from otha MUTHAS!