Obama, Dems Consider Budget Reconciliation To Pass Health Reform

President Obama and congressional Democrats are facing a decision on whether to use budget reconciliation to push health care reform legislation through Congress after the loss of their 60-member supermajority in the Senate, the New York Times reports. The procedural maneuver involves complex rules that could make it difficult to include all the provisions needed to pass the bill. One example of such a provision could be insurance coverage of abortion in health plans that receive federal subsidies given that only changes affecting taxes and government spending can be approved through reconciliation. Reconciliation bills only require a simple majority of 51 senators to pass (Herszenhorn/Pear, New York Times, 1/26).

Although reconciliation presents challenges, the remaining options for passing a final bill also are "unappealing," the AP/Washington Post reports. Democratic leaders have discussed scaling back the current legislation to make it less controversial and smaller, and they have also discussed setting the bill aside altogether.

According to senior Democratic aides, congressional leaders are backing the plan to pursue the reconciliation strategy (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Washington Post, 1/26). However, Democratic leaders are losing confidence that rank-and-file House Democrats would agree to the plan. Some Democrats said that the support of the caucus could hinge on Obama's comments during his State of the Union speech on Wednesday.

Given the current situation, reconciliation may be Obama's only available option to pass any type of health reform bill, the Times reports. There are political risks involved with the maneuver, including possible backlash from Republicans, who likely would criticize the move as "parliamentary trickery," the Times reports. Congressional Republicans have already made clear that they will depict Democrats and Obama as trying to force health reform legislation using hardball tactics. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "Less than a week after the Massachusetts special election, the Obama administration is vowing to 'stay the course' and double down on the same costly job-killing policies that are leaving America's middle-class families and small businesses high and dry" (New York Times, 1/26).


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