Let's go for reconciliation on the Public Option!

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[Jackie2]

I rec'd an email from Bold Progressives today that I think many will be enthused about.

Some great news.
This morning, four bold senators -- led by Colorado's Mike Bennet -- defied the stale DC conventional wisdom that tells Democrats to be weak.
Instead, they wrote a letter calling on Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass the public health insurance option through "reconciliation," which only needs a simple majority in the Senate.
This is huge news.

Americans overwhelmingly want the public option. A majority of senators have said they want the public option. And finally, "reconciliation" is seriously under consideration -- meaning that Joe Lieberman would be unable to block the bill.
The only question is: Will Democratic senators have the guts to pass the public option through reconciliation?

Here's a link to find your Senator's phone number.
http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/call/bennet_letter/?akid=363.217897.iOV-5L&rd=1&source=e1&t=2

[futurexpat?]

I will believe it only when I see the president signing the bill into law, and not one moment before.

[daMamma]

I will believe it only when I see the president signing the bill into law, and not one moment before.

Ditto!

[Jackie2]

You girls are trying to bust my bubble!  Ever optimistic here (depending on the day & subject).

Update email todayfrom Bold Progressives - 4 more Senators have signed on!

Boom! In one day -- after 10,000 phone calls to Congress -- we doubled the number of senators who signed the letter calling on Harry Reid to pass the public option through "reconciliation."
Al Franken (MN), Patrick Leahy (VT), John Kerry (MA), and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) all stepped up.

[futurexpat?]

I do think this is a great idea, and I'm not trying to burst your bubble.  I just get tired of seeing things look sort of good, then get slapped down.

[daMamma]

I want health care reform so bad, but am afraid to get my hopes up too high. 

[Jackie2]

I so agree w/both of you...  Ergo the ever optimistic depending on the day & subject, and it does go back & forth a lot!

[futurexpat?]

Here's a place to go to find out what your representatives are doing:

http://whipcongress.com/

They will provide you with the information about how to reach your reps and give you a script to call them with. 

[Lani]

My Congresscritters have signed.  Will email my senators tonight and call in the morning.

[Lani]

Here's the list of the Senators who have signed the letter.

The list of Senators currently signing the letter includes Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Michael Bennet (D-Col.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Roland Burris (D-Ill.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Then Dianne Feinstein becam the 11th signer!

These senators are leaning towards it.  Please call them if they belong to you:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate health committee, isn't yet signing on to the effort, but said through a spokeswoman that he "has always strongly supported the public option and will continue to fight for comprehensive health care reform."

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are the latest to indicate support for the use of reconciliation to pass health care reform legislation that includes a public option.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/17/dianne-feinstein-signs-on_n_466435.html

[boodog]

So far Cantwell and Murray, both from my state, are unknown status. But I will be letting them know what I think, and I encourage others to do the same. This needs to be done before we piddle away any chance for a passed bill.

[M. Paul]

Ok guys,

I really wish I had the time and energy to dig into this.   I really feel like I was used up after our  senators dropped the ball.  Actually I am not sure what happened but after trying to figure how reconciliation was going to work last december I feel like I just gave up. I wish some one could just tell me what the H%$ happened? 

Any way the post was Reconciliation and all I could find on the subject pertained to budgetary matters and not legislation.  Any leads that might help one of the less informed decode the process and perhaps refuel my fire?

Thank you,

M. Paul

 

[Lani]

http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/bud_rec_proc.htm

Created in a budget resolution in 1974 as part of the congressional budget process, the reconciliation process is utilized when Congress issues directives to legislate policy changes in mandatory spending (entitlements) or revenue programs (tax laws) to achieve the goals in spending and revenue contemplated by the budget resolution. First used in1980 this process was used at the end of a fiscal year to enact legislation to fine tune revenue and spending levels through legislation that could not be filibustered in the Senate. ...

... Conference Process: Once a reconciliation bill is passed in the House and Senate, members of each body meet to work out their differences. A majority of the conferees on each panel must agree on a single version of the bill before it can be brought back to the full House and Senate for a vote on final passage. Approval of the conference agreement on the reconciliation legislation must be by a majority vote of both Houses. In the House, the conference report is usually given a special rule from the Rules Committee to govern floor consideration. In the Senate, the floor debate is governed by Senate rules and specific provisions of the Budget Act. In contrast to the concurrent budget resolution, a reconciliation bill is sent to the President for approval or disapproval.

How Democrats could pass health bill with 51 votes (it isn't pretty) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/311/story/82779.html

Congress has used reconciliation occasionally for non-budget legislation, including rewriting health care and welfare policy, as the Republican majority did in passing major welfare legislation in 1996....

... Lawmakers and policy experts on both sides of the aisle warn that the strategy could backfire on the Democrats by leaving important provisions of the bill vulnerable to a parliamentary challenge and by making the Democrats appear overly partisan and high-handed. In addition, since the bills could deal only with issues of budget and spending, some social policy issues covered in the current legislation, such as abortion funding and coverage for immigrants, might not be allowed.

  So yes, it could work.  It will be limited in scope, but not as limited as nothing.

[Jackie2]

This is probably a case of the blind leading the blind but my understanding is that we already have the 2 bills - one from the Senate and one from the House, and those bills do actually pertain to budget as the funding of the included programs have to be paid for.

The definition of Reconciliation from Wikipedia

Reconciliation is a legislative process in the United States Senate intended to allow consideration of a contentious budget bill without the threat of filibuster. Introduced in 1974, reconciliation limits debate and amendment, and therefore favors the majority party.

Wikipedia has a fair amount of info on the topic, scroll down in the link to read the history of reconciliation and the current issue of Healthcare Reconciliation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)

[Lani]

More about using reconciliation to get the public option:

The reconciliation process has been used for just this kind of urgent, publicly-mandated legislation before: it was used when we passed the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare Advantage, and the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA).

http://savethepublicoption.com/

Click on that link to sign Sen. Michael Bennet's letter to Harry Reid.

[Irishgirl]

I can see I wasn't the only one confused with reconciliation. I was googling the definition today as well. Anyway, the good news is that up to 30 senators are now supporting the public option.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/30-senators-sign-letter-supporting-public-option.php

[Lani]

Hurray!  My senators signed!

[Rob in Ca]

Last August, Chris Bowers at Open Left did a whip count and had only two firm noes and 45 yeses on a public option in the Senate.

http://openleft.com/diary/14691/senate-whip-count-46-public-option-supporters

The rest were maybes.  There is reason to believe that we are in excellent shape on this.  Remember, these Senators already took the hit for health care reform.  The only way out is to pass a bill, and the better way out is to pass a better bill.  In reconciliation, we get the best bill from 50 Senators, which will be far better than the best with 60 could have ever been.

Check out the link with the answers by Senator...very interesting - and then you can start your own whip count!

[Lani]

It looks like there are 2 letters circulating.  One calls for a public option in the final bill.  That's the one with 30 signers.  (The TalkingPointsMemo link) The other calls for the public option via reconciliation.  That one has about half as many signers.  (Democracy for America and whipcongress links)

[Tremelai]

Holy Guano Batman!

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would work with other Democrats and the White House to pass a public option through reconciliation.

Code:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/reid-will-push-for-public_n_469483.html

We all need to step up the pressure on all Dem Senators !  The ball is in our court.