Panicky Democrats look at bypassing Senate health care vote altogether

[Little-Acorn]

Is there any way to circumvent the will of the voters, that the Democrats haven't yet tried? If there is, rest assured they will find it and try it. And soon.

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http://townhall.com/news/business/20...alth_care_vote

Dems look at bypassing Senate health care vote

by CHARLES BABINGTON
Sunday, January 17, 2010

A panicky White House and Democratic allies scrambled Sunday for a plan to salvage their hard-fought health care package in case a Republican wins Tuesday's Senate race in Massachusetts, which would enable the GOP to block further Senate action.

The likeliest scenario would require persuading House Democrats to accept a bill the Senate passed last month, despite their objections to several parts.

Aides consulted Sunday amid fears that Republican Scott Brown will defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the late Edward M. Kennedy's seat. A Brown win would give the GOP 41 Senate votes, enough to filibuster and block final passage of the House-Senate compromise on health care now being crafted.

The newly discussed fallback would require House Democrats to swallow hard and approve the Senate-passed bill without changes. President Barack Obama could sign it into law without another Senate vote needed.

House leaders would insist that the Senate make some changes later under a complex plan called "budget reconciliation." It requires only a simple majority, but it's unclear whether that could happen.

The plan is highly problematic. House liberals already are bristling over changes the Senate forced upon them earlier, and some may conclude that no bill is better than the Senate bill. But some Democrats said failure to pass a health bill will cripple their ability to tell voters this November that they accomplished anything with their control of the House, Senate and White House.

[Jeff]

I guess Obama doesn't feel so lucky after his speech today, and after listening to her I don't blame him

For a group of people that hate Sarah Palin so much they sure had Martha Coakley trying to sound like her today, but she couldn't pull it off, she sounded rehearsed and stupid

[DragonStryk72]

Eh, they don't have the numbers in the house, so now they're royally screwed, and it's not looking like's it's going to get better anytime soon for the Dems. People have had a whole year of Obama right now, and he sounded absolutely wonderful a year ago, but now? People are starting to realize that it's just same shit, different day.