GOP Hopes Blue Dogs Can Kill Health Bill

Republicans’ latest strategy in their war against health care reform: Get the Blue Dogs to kill the bill for them. With the public increasingly weary of congressional gridlock, the Republicans would rather the bill die “without their fingerprints on the body,” writes David Rogers of Politico. They also doubt they can stop the reconciliation bill in the Senate, leaving an implosion among House Democrats as their last hope.

So they’re waging a subtle campaign to play on the Blue Dogs’ nerves. Mitch McConnell, for example, on Monday noted that the $100 billion jobless benefits bill heading to the House would spend “every dime” the health care bill would shave off the deficit, while Judd Gregg cautioned them that the reconciliation bill “is going to be a heavy lift here in the Senate,” and that they can’t count on it passing. (More Blue Dog Democrats stories.)