Brian Beutler
During a press conference outside the White House after meeting with President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left no doubt that the overriding goal for health care reform remains passing a bill through the regular legislative process rather than using procedural tools to enact measures that can't be filibustered.
"We have a lot of work to do, understand that, but we're still approaching this in the form of bipartisanship," Reid said. "We want a bipartisan bill. We do not want (to use) reconciliation unless we have no alternative."
As we've reported, Democratic leaders have been gaming out the possibility of using the budget reconciliation process to enact reform measures that would be exempt from a 60 vote requirement. But for the time being, the goal remains to push forward with negotiations with moderate Republicans--notably Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)--to advance a bill that can overcome a filibuster and, maybe, win a couple of Republican votes.
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“We’ve re-renergized. We’re ready to do health-care reform,” Mr. Reid, the Senate majority leader said after the meeting. He added, “I have every belief that when he finishes his speech tomorrow, the American people will be able to put aside some of the ridiculous falsehoods that have been perpetrated these past few weeks and focus on what we’re going to do that’s positive for this country.”
Yet the meeting did little to lessen the differences that exist among Democrats, particularly some type of public insurance option.
“I believe that a public option will be essential to our passing a bill in the House of Representatives,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters. But she also suggested that she did not want to be hung up over the debate over a public plan, adding: “If somebody has a better idea of how to do that, put it on the table.”
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