House Dems Fear Senate, WH Steamroll on Health Care

It will hold a standard vote on the Senate bill tomorrow

(NEWSER) - "Deem and pass" is heading back into legislative obscurity. House leaders today decided not to use the controversial procedure on health care reform. Instead, the chamber will hold a standard vote on the Senate health bill and another on a package of amendments, reports the Washington Post . The final vote is still on track for tomorrow, and Nancy Pelosi says she's confident she'll have the numbers to push it through. More»

Silver adds up House Dems who would support Senate bill

(NEWSER) - The math is pretty bleak for passage of the Senate version of health-care reform in the House—the last-ditch effort being considered to save it—but it’s not impossible that 218 votes could be wrangled, Nate Silver writes. One big hurdle is the “Stupak block,” which Silver believes “could deprive the bill of 8-10 votes” over moral objections to abortion funding. And Dems facing re-election in conservative districts could find the calculus spits out a nay vote. More»

Screwy Senate has a flawed, but good bill

(NEWSER) - The health care bill is as good as it’s going to get, and progressives whining about it—or worse, trying to kill it—are being ridiculous. “In a normal democracy,” EJ Dionne writes, the majority support would quickly pass a public option or Medicare expansion. But the “bizarre habits of the Senate” mean “we are no longer a normal democracy,” and "power has passed to tiny minorities, sometimes minorities of one" More»

If there is one, which we hope there isn't. Good idea, say Dems.

(NEWSER) - In the circus that is the Senate these days, a couple of anti-public-option Republicans—Tom Coburn and David Vitter—rolled out an amendment to the health care bill Friday requiring members of Congress to enroll in any such plan that might come to pass. When Dems didn’t object—Sherrod Brown, Chris Dodd, and Al Franken tried to cosponsor, but were rebuffed—GOP senators upped the ante and added in the president. The amended amendment would extend the mandate to the whole executive branch. More»

Liberals say it's too conservative, and conservatives say it's too liberal

(NEWSER) - Some early takes from the left and right on Nancy Pelosi's health care bill:

• Tevi Troy, National Review: This will offend states, employers, budget hawks, insurers, even liberals who don't think it's "robust" enough. "The Pelosi approach is an impressive demonstration of coalition building—if you’re trying to build a coalition of opponents."
• Jon Walker, Firedog Lake: Gee thanks, Blue Dogs. By forcing Pelosi to scrap the idea of tying the public option to Medicare rates, this results in a "huge victory for the health insurance industry, hospitals, and PhRMA."