On Wednesday, President Obama will offer detail on his vision for the final procedural path, and substantive agreement, for completing health reform:
President Obama Wednesday will detail both the substance of his final health care reform legislation proposal and the process for getting it through Congress once and for all.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during his daily briefing today that Obama will offer the pathway to final passage by outlining the "next steps." But Gibbs also dodged questions on specifics or how the president would help Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid secure enough votes in their chambers.
It won't have a public option. The White House, Speaker Pelosi, and key public option supporters in the Senate (Harkin and Rockefeller) have all signaled that the reconciliation bill will not have a public option when it is introduced. So, the only way to pass a public option at this point is to have one added on the floor of the Senate via amendment to the reconciliation bill. Such an amendment would require only 51 votes for passage, and could be any type of public option as long as it was germane to the "Byrd rule." Jon Walker unpacks all of this in more detail, looks into the possibilities of forcing a vote on such an amendment.
Counting votes in the House. Given that 59 of the 60 Senators who voted for the health reform bill back in December are still in the Senate, getting 51 votes to pass a health reform bill through the Senate should not be difficult. Democrats could lose nine votes and still pass the bill-very, very doable. The real problem is passing a bill through the House, even with the Senate passing a "fix" to their bill.
Back in November, the bill passed the House by a vote of 220-215. However, since that time, three Representatives who voted for the bill are no longer in the House, and one who voted against the bill has also left. That makes the current county 217-214, with 216 needed for passage.
From that point, the trick is offsetting the Stupak bloc with non-Stupak Democrats who voted against the bill last time. This is possible, but it will be close. Back in November, Stupak had at least nine Democrats, and Republican Joseph Cao, with him. However, ten Democrats who voted against the bill last time have signaled they are open to voting for it this time. Speaker Pelosi is going to need all ten of those to pass the bill over the objections of the Stupak bloc.
The end is coming into focus. Wednesday is a very big say.
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