The 'doc fix' bill (S 1776) failed to achieve cloture this afternoon. The bill removes a particular piece of legislative nonsense at the cost to the deficit of $250bn or so: under current legislation, Medicare payments to doctors should be much lower than they are; each year, a one-year fix is passed to stop this reduction taking effect.
The point is that, so long as the one-year fix arrangement continues, the $250bn is kept out of the deficit stats - Enron accounting.
The plan was to take the pain this year - and not seek to offset any of it with revenue increases. And keeping it out of the health care reform bills avoids any confusion about the effect of reform on the size of the deficit.
In the event, 12 Dems - including Feingold - plus Lieberman joined all 40 GOP to vote against cloture.
All pretty much business as usual so far. The piquant detail is a quote from Harry:
Reid said he had been reassured that GOP support would be considerable. "I was told by various people we have 27 Republican votes," Reid told reporters Wednesday morning.
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