Well it appears that healthcare reform may come to a head next week. President Obama has said that he wants a vote on March 18th before he leaves for an overseas trip. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid has sent a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell outlining the Democrats plan to use the much talked about budget reconciliation plan to pass healthcare reform. That means that they can pass it with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed for a supermajority to prevent a Republican filibuster. The Democrats no longer have the needed 60 votes due to the election of a republican to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

To complicate matters the day before Senator Reid sent his letter the 41 Senate Republicans signed a letter condemning the use of the reconciliation process to pass a partisan bill that represents one sixth of the economy. They say that the Senates “Byrd Rule” prevents the use of reconciliation to do anything other than revise the federal budget.

It’s heating up and we may all have our answer next week. It doesn’t seem to matter to many in Washington that it appears that the majority of Americans want healthcare reform, just not the one that they may be getting ready to vote on.  bjmdjd

Material modifications since posting: none

Healthcare Reform · reconciliation process · Senator Harry Reid · Senator Mitch McConnell