One possible route for health care reform passage

If health care reform is to pass, a compromise will need to be reached between the Senate and House. Before Scott Brown became the 41st Republican senator last week, the way forward was for the House and Senate to reconcile their respective bills, compromising on the most contentious issues, in order to produce a single, final bill to be sent to both the House and Senate for final passage. No longer having a 60 seat majority in the Senate, Democrats are now forced to explore other options.

One such option, as mentioned in an earlier post, is for the House to pass the Senate's bill outright, bypassing the need to muster a 60 vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Such an option is fraught with difficulties as House liberals have shown much reluctance to pass the Senate bill without specific changes. House liberals want a higher excise tax threshold, increased subsidies, and a national--rather than state-based--health care exchange. It will not be possible to pass a bill with such features unless the Senate votes again.

Another option that is gaining traction is the idea of the House passing the Senate's bill, but only after the above concerns--higher subsidies, lower excise tax, national exchange--are passed by the Senate via the reconciliation process where only 51 votes would be needed. This route seems possible, but a lot will depend on how broadly the Senate parliamentarian interprets the reconciliation procedural rules. For more info on this development: here, here, and here.

Oh, and by the way, the contentious "Nebraska deal" that was struck with Sen. Ben Nelson could also be removed from the bill via the reconciliation process, removing what has become a symbol of closed-door, special interest legislating.