Obama to Offer Health Bill to Ease Impasse - “It will be a reconciliation bill”

[jefferson_dem]

:popcorn:

Obama to Offer Health Bill to Ease Impasse as Bipartisan Meeting Approaches
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — President Obama will put forward comprehensive health care legislation intended to bridge differences between Senate and House Democrats ahead of a summit meeting with Republicans next week, senior administration officials and Congressional aides said Thursday.

Democratic officials said the president’s proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority.

Congressional Democrats, however, have not yet seen the proposal or signed on.

The House and the Senate each adopted a version of sweeping health care legislation late last year. But efforts to combine the measures stalled after a Republican, Scott Brown, won a special Senate election in Massachusetts on Jan. 19, effectively stripping the Democrats of the 60th vote they needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

“It will be a reconciliation bill,” one Democratic aide said. “If Republicans don’t come with any substantial offers, this is what we would do.”

Officials said that the White House would post the president’s plan on the Internet by Monday morning. But even as Mr. Obama tries to unite his party behind a single plan, it is unclear that Democrats can muster the needed votes in the House and the Senate given the tense political climate of a midterm election year.

<SNIP>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/health/policy/19health.html?src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics&pagewanted=print

[BootinUp]

1. Whoo hoooo, how does that taste Boehner and friends?

[DJ13]

3. How does a Boehner taste?

:rofl:

[NYC_SKP]

5. Just ask any Teabagger...

:hide:

[HughMoran]

2. Well, this should be interesting anyway

I hope they get a good bill and pass the damned thing.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

4. F THE REPUBS

[davidpdx]

6. It's funny to hear the different version being given by the disgruntled in the LBN forum

It almost sounds like "Obama is the devil" if you play it backwards.

[dkf]

7. Hey this kind of works for me.

Cool!

[liberalpragmatist]

8. So is this a whole bill or just fixes to the Senate bill?

It's not really clear from the article. Also, interesting that congressional aides are saying they weren't consulted, which conflicts with reports Greg Sargent and Jon Cohn had the last couple days of House-Senate-White House talks.