Health Care is Mandatory ! Don`t Miss This...

Healthcare provisions would not derail budget legislation
By Walter Alarkon <>Posted: 04/21/09

Democrats appear to have the votes for a budget measure that would allow reform of the nation’s healthcare system with just 51 Senate votes.Centrist Democrats said they could support the special reconciliation budget process to push ahead healthcare reform, even though many of them voted to ban the use of reconciliation rules for climate change regulations earlier this month. “The fastest route to healthcare reform, the better,” said Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.). “If that means supporting healthcare through reconciliation, I would.”Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said that reconciliation rules, which would allow Democrats to bypass a Republican filibuster, should be used for healthcare if Republicans resort to obstructionist tactics.Casey, Tester and 24 other Senate Democrats joined all 41 Republicans in voting for a budget amendment prohibiting reconciliation rules for climate change measures. But the Democrats have drawn distinctions over the use of the special process for climate change and for healthcare.Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) noted that the reconciliation option was instituted specifically for programs that deal with federal revenues. Because some healthcare reforms could directly affect funding streams for government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, she hasn’t ruled out backing the special process for healthcare like she has for climate change.“Some of the provisions in climate [bills] may not specifically be tied to raising revenue or lowering revenue,” she said.President Obama’s budget plan does assume $646 billion of federal savings on a climate change bill becoming law.Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who said she’s undecided about the use of the reconciliation instructions, noted that climate change regulations could hurt some areas, especially those that produce energy, more than others.“Different parts of the country aren’t treated differently” under healthcare reforms, she said.Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), who sponsored the amendment barring reconciliation rules for climate change, said that his Democratic colleagues shouldn’t see a difference between the use of the special process for healthcare and for climate change.“The principles [for using reconciliation] are essentially the same,” he said. “Healthcare is every bit as complicated as climate change.”Johanns said that any healthcare bill should be thoughtfully debated and subject to amendments, just like most legislation.But Senate Democratic leaders signaled Tuesday that they’re ready to move ahead with the reconciliation instructions, which direct committees to produce legislation by a certain deadline.Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters Tuesday that he’d like to see reconciliation rules used for healthcare. Reconciliation instructions were included for healthcare and education reform in the House-approved budget resolution but not in the Senate’s version. The two chambers will have to hash out differences in a conference over the next few weeks.“I’d like to see them choose reconciliation,” Durbin said. “I think the House was right to include that recommendation.”Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Senate Democrat, suggested that reconciliation rules may be needed because he hasn’t seen much GOP willingness to cooperate with Democrats. Schumer noted that two of 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) to become Health and Human Services secretary. The nomination, cleared by the Finance panel on Tuesday, will soon move to the floor.“It’s an ominous signal of the level of cooperation we can expect from the Republicans on healthcare,” Schumer said in a statement Tuesday. “Maybe the Republicans are telling us they want us to pass healthcare reform through the budget reconciliation process.”Though most Democrats appear ready to back the reconciliation rules for healthcare, it isn’t a sure thing that enough of them will vote for a budget resolution that includes those rules. The resolution needs 51 votes to pass. The resolution that won approval three weeks ago received 55 votes.Undecided Democrats include Hagan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.).A handful of centrist Democrats have said they oppose the use of reconciliation rules for healthcare, saying that stronger legislation would emerge by working with Republicans under the regular rules.“I think to really enact something that has lasting impact and [is] really a solid reform, it needs to be built from the center out,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said that he preferred that reconciliation not be used to answer “complicated, big policy questions” over healthcare reform, but he also wouldn’t rule it out.But, in perhaps a sign that the centrists will eventually go along with party leaders, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said that he isn’t opposed to the use of reconciliation for healthcare. Bayh voted against the budget resolution earlier this month because he had concerns about its level of spending. He has also been among the most vocal members of a group of 15 Democrats who have sought to pare down the budget.Bayh said that reconciliation could be used for healthcare, even if it’s not used for climate change.A climate change bill, “if not done correctly, could have disproportionate effects on parts of the country,” he said. “But healthcare [reform] would affect most Americans uniformly.”

Editorial : I did`nt realize that the Senate could do this ? But, Hoo-Ray, that they can ! Health-Care is and should be Every Americans right !