In Senate, Long, Grinding War Over Obama Care Begins

Politico highlights just some of the many pending battles in the Senate should HCR clear the House. Today, four floor speeches will speak to some of the potentially fatal land mines and harmful back alley knifings, with media coordination, Dems will face directly ahead. With the albatross of an unpopular bill already hanging around the necks of Democrats who ignored serious efforts to help on jobs and the economy too long to make a difference in the fall, at best, they'll likely suffer even more at the ballot box come November - and it could be even worse.

Some of the moves could force 60 vote Senate moments Reid can't win, or throw the measure back to the House for a vote they could easily lose, killing reconciliation fixes in large part. The message in the piece is actually meant for undecideds in the House - to the extent you think the Senate can cover your azz with reconciliation, you might want to think, again. With an already terribly challenging election season approaching, how long before a bunch of Senate Democrats always quick to cut and run give up, allowing their bill, which House Democrats never liked, to stand as the law of the land? 

I'm not sure how much all this matters, big picture, if HCR has accomplished anything already, it's killed the careers of a lot of Democrats. My guess - there will be even more bodies to come in November, whether the Senate passes reconciliation, or not.

Here’s an example of how the Byrd Rule could wreak havoc for Democrats.

Senate Republican aides have begun advancing the idea that Democrats cannot make changes to the excise tax on Cadillac insurance plans through reconciliation — an argument that could cause House liberals to think twice about supporting the legislation.

The reason is that the proposed changes to the so-called Cadillac tax could violate the Byrd Rule’s prohibition on making changes to Social Security. Republicans say that, according to reports from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation, part of the deficit savings over the next 10 years stems from increased Social Security revenues generated by the Cadillac tax, which was supposed to start in 2013.

But under the deal reached between the White House and Democratic congressional leaders — and codified in the reconciliation bill — the tax would not kick in until 2018.

Republicans are circulating a document that concludes that this change would reduce revenues to the Social Security program and would fall outside the current budget window, thus compelling them to raise two points of order to strike this provision from the bill.

If the parliamentarian agrees with Republicans, Democrats would need 60 votes to waive the point of order — which they don’t have.

A House Democratic aide said the leaders would not proceed “until we have a comfort level with what we can and cannot do in a reconciliation bill.

Comments

[Keith]

Limbaugh stated the right's position on health care. He said it's like owning a beach house. If you have the money you get one. The rest of the people, well, I guess they can just go off and die by the side of the road.

[Ad rem]

Blah...blah...blah....Jimbo... nothing but a marxist drone.

[liptontbagg]

Jimbo and Keith must be getting 25 cents for every stupid post they can get up on someone website.

[Ad rem]

Jimbo's definitely getting paid by the word.

[Elmo]

Hey Jimbo ... whudd id bee like? Rush sez hi, and Glenn gives a shout out too. All us reich wingers hang out together ... watching Rush and Glenn ... twenny-fo ows-uh-day. Every day. Day after day. They duzz our teenking for us too. Telling us what to do and when to do it. In fact, they're telling me to write this comment right now ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFRlwCacu-4

season to taste

[Terrye]

Jimbo:

You fool. The insurance companies are going to get a lot of business thanks to idiots like you. I mean really. as for desperate, I think the Democrats are the ones who look a tad overwhelmed.

[Terrye]

Keith:

No, actually that was not what Rush said, btw, how many people do you know who have died along side the road because of a lack of health insurace?

[eagleeye]

The right-wing wingnuts are about to go down to defeat, AGAIN!!

WOOT WOOT