Reconciliation and Daschle's Delusions

by: Adam Bink

Sun Aug 30, 2009 at 14:30

1. The NYTimes editorial board has a great piece out making the case for reconciliation in a very succinct, reasoned way. It lays out three important arguments:

(a) The Republicans has no moderates, only partisan conservatives who want to see this as Obama's Waterloo.

Mr. Obama should know from sad experience the pitfalls of seeking bipartisan cooperation from a Republican Party that has sloughed off most of its moderates and is dominated by its right wing. His stimulus package was supported by no Republicans in the House and only three Republicans in the Senate, so-called moderates whose support was won by shrinking the package below the size at which it would have done the most good.

[...]

Even if the group reaches an agreement, which is by no means certain, its compromise is unlikely to win support from a Republican Party that seems bent on delay.

(b) Grassley, who I think made his critical mistake when he said he was only interested in a bill that could achieve more than just 3 or 4 Republican votes, is negotiating to a place where not just fundamental reform is untenable- because he wants so many Republicans to sign on that the legislation is weak tea- but where it just ain't going to happen, because too many Republicans will vote against any bill. E.g., it should be clear to the Administration that where Grassley is leading them by the nose is not a place they will be comfortable in, either because the bill is so weak or because there will be no bill at all.

(c) The Democrats should move forward on using reconciliation, and a great statement against the pitfalls of bipartisanship, sacrificing reform for comity.

Clearly the reconciliation approach is a risky and less desirable way to enact comprehensive health care reforms. The only worse approach would be to retreat to modest gestures in an effort to win Republican acquiescence. It is barely possible that the Senate Finance Committee might pull off a miracle and devise a comprehensive solution that could win broad support, or get one or more Republicans to vote to break a filibuster. If not, the Democrats need to push for as much reform as possible through majority vote.

The whole thing is worth a read.

On the flip: Deborah Solomon interviews Tom Daschle.