health carnage

Health-Care Grandstanding Is Not Over

Though the Democrats have finally managed to secure the votes of 60 senators for their health-care-reform bill, which they’re on pace to pass on the night of Christmas Eve, the Constitution — fussbudget stickler that it is — requires the Senate and House to pass identical bills. As you may recall, the House bill is quite different from the Senate bill in some very important ways; it has a public option and stricter restrictions on funding abortion, for example. Since the Senate Democrats had such a difficult time bribing and appeasing and bribing their most stubborn holdouts into backing the bill, it’s expected that the House will simply have to roll over and, for the most part, embrace much of the Senate bill’s language. Meaning, as the details are worked out in conference committee in the new year, there are going to be a bunch of upset Democratic congresspeople with “concerns” and “reservations” to address. Nancy, prepare the checkbook!

Health plans on collision course [Politico]
Cloture vote foreshadows conference tussle over final healthcare bill [Hill]

Health-Care Grandstanding Is Not Over