Obama Will Suggest Democrats Could Use ‘Reconciliation’ Rules to Pass Bill
Jake Trapper and Karen Travers
ABC News
3/3/2010
With the clock once again ticking on health care reform legislation, President Obama today will launch his final push to get a bill passed and will indicate that he is willing to work with Republicans on some issues. But the president will suggest that if it becomes necessary, Democrats will use the controversial “reconciliation” rules to send a bill to his desk.
That parliamentary procedure would allow Democrats to pass the legislation with 51 votes, as opposed to the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been waiting for direction from the president on how health care reform will proceed. In remarks scheduled for 1:45 p.m. ET at the White House, Obama will urge Congress to “move swiftly” toward votes on health care, a White House official said Tuesday…
…Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote to the president to say that the Republicans were “surprised and disappointed with your latest proposal to simply paper a few of these commonsense proposals over an unsalvageable bill.”
“The American people are asking us for step-by-step reforms that target cost and expand access, not a couple of commonsense ideas layered over a rewrite of one-sixth of the economy, a massive expansion of the federal government’s role in their daily lives, and higher taxes and cuts to Medicare to pay for it,” he wrote…
…To stress the urgency of the task at hand for members of Congress, Obama will “reiterate why reform is so crucial and what it will mean for American families and businesses: they’ll have more control over their own health care, they’ll see lower costs , and they’ll see an end to insurance company abuses,” according to a White House official…
The entire article is at ABC News.
