A Brief Reconciliation Primer–Jonathan Chait: The New Republic
The health care debate is quickly going to focus on whether its passage entails some immoral act of partisan hardball or merely a common legislative procedure. Unfortunately, it seems that very few people understand the details of it well enough to form an opinion, and this includes reporters who cover it.
Senate Republicans collected quotes from 18 Senate Democrats expressing skepticism about using budget reconciliation to pass health care reform. The Hill reports skeptically on this claim, pointing out that many of the quotes are dated, and the Senators have since expressed openness to using reconciliation. But this response misses the deeper problem here: the Republicans are conflating two extremely different things.
Let me explain. Reconciliation is a legislative procedure for passing changes to the budget — taxes and spending — that only requires a majority in the Senate. Last year some Democrats pondered passing health care reform entirely through reconciliation. Critics pointed out that such a move could result in many of the crucial features of the bill being stricken by the Senate parliamentarian on grounds that they aren’t budget changes. (Say, insurance regulations would probably not be able to pass through reconciliation.) Ultimately, Democrats decided to go through the regular order, and they passed a health care bill through the Senate with 60 votes.
Now that they’ve lost the ability to break a filibuster, Democrats plan to have the House pass the Senate bill, and then use reconciliation to enact changes to the Senate bill demanded by the House. These changes — higher subsidy levels, different kinds of taxes to pay for them, nixing the Nebraska Medicaid deal — mainly involve taxes and spending. In other words, they’re exactly the kinds of policies that are well-suited for reconciliation.
It’s not just The Hill that misses the distinction, but the whole political media. Here’s Sunday’s New York Times:
Many Democrats in Congress said they doubted that it was feasible to pass a major health care bill with a parliamentary tool called reconciliation, which is used to speed adoption of budget and tax legislation. Reconciliation requires only 51 votes for passage in the Senate, but entails procedural and political risks.
Again, using reconciliation to patch up the Senate bill is a totally different thing than using it to pass an entire health care bill. I can understand why Republicans would treat them as identical — they’re spinning for partisan purposes. Reporters covering this issue have no good excuse.
Saturday February 20, 2010 3:04pm
The News Media Failed on Health Care Reform
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via Tufts Daily – The news media failed on health care reform.
Health Reform-If Not Now, When?
Yesterday, Sen Ben Nelson of Nebraska indicated that he was throwing his support behind the Senate reform package, in effect providing the 60th vote to keep the reform process going forward. With Nelson’s announcement followed by the press conference of Majority Leader Harry Reid, it did not take very long for the “diarrhea of the mouth” to begin flowing. One would have thought that all of the teens had just scaled the chain link fence at the local reform school and were now running through the streets yelling and screaming in a state of complete chaos. And yes, the Party of No surfaced in their usual choreographed splendor, foaming and seething at the mouth. Over the last couple of months, just about everyone on the planet has griped and moaned about not getting exactly what they wanted. Progressives are unhappy, anti-abortionists are unhappy, pro-choice groups are unhappy, those for gay rights are unhappy, Ed Schultz is unhappy, Keith Olbermann is unhappy, Racheal Maddow is unhappy and republications…well, they are just themselves…Mitch McConnell, Tom Coburn, John McCain. Theodore Roosevelt aptly noted that “Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe”.
This morning I watched the usual television pundits join the fray. There was George Will, Joe Scarborough, John Kyle, Tavis Smiley, David Gregory, George Stephanopoulos, the cast of CNN and the buffoons over at Fox. The interesting thing in all of this is that everyone seems to have forgotten that we are suppose to be talking about health reform, the same topic that we have been talking about for at least the last forty years. No wonder everyone is so up in arms.
Today, Maine Senators Snowe and Collins went on record indicating their non-support for the Senate bill. In her press release today, Sen Snowe stated that “ I deeply regret that I cannot support the pending Senate legislation as it currently stands, given my continued concerns with the measure and an artificial and arbitrary deadline of completing the bill before Christmas that is shortchanging the process on this monumental and trans-generational effort”. “There is absolutely no reason to be hurtling headlong to a Christmas deadline”. Sen Collins , god bless her, noted in her press statement “That is why I am so disappointed that the partisan legislation before the Senate falls far short of what should be the goals of reform.” It is unfair that republicans were allowed to offer only seven amendments to a bill that affects every single citizen and one-sixth of our nation’s economy.” She went on to say that “The health legislation before the Senate has enormous consequences for our economy and our society. The Senate missed the opportunity to produce true, bipartisan health reform.”
Reform…a very interesting word, a transitive verb that means 1) to put or change into an improved form or condition 2) to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses 3) to induce or cause to abandon evil ways. As one who has been for a public option from the start and thus far not getting exactly what I wanted either, I venture to believe that the current Senate bill is about reform. The bill establishes a framework of exchanges that will go a long way for many who cannot afford health insurance by making billions of dollars available in federal help to allow people to buy coverage through these exchanges and through expanded Medicaid. The bill also places new regulations on private insurers that reduces their ability to discriminate against the sick while at the same time, preventing the insurers from undermining the security of these same people. Additionally, insurers will be required to spend more of their premium revenues on clinical services and quality activities. There will be an immediate ban on pre-existing condition exclusions for children, patient protections for choice of doctors, restrictions on annual limits of benefits and accountability for excessive rate increases. By definition, this is reform…a change to improve.
Unfortunately Senators Snowe and Collins, you are on the wrong side of this issue. You both are intelligent and learned people. Sen Snowe, how many more generations must pass before you feel you have had enough time to make an informed decision. Are 40 plus years not enough? It’s not as though you are a first time Senator. And Senator Collins, the words “unfair, true reform, and bipartisan health reform” are just not going to cut it. Health and costs go hand-in-hand. Fixing healthcare goes a long way towards fixing the economy. At every turn, the “process” has been bastardized by your Republican party. I am far more interested in results than in process. I am certain that all of those people who do not have health insurance, all of those who are under-insured, all of those who are paying extortion- like insurance premiums, all of those who are paying exorbitant out-of -pocket expenses, and all of those who are being denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions would like to see their nightmare come to an end. The consequences of your “No” is the continuation of fear and insecurity for millions and millions of Americans.
As in triage, the goal of reform is to do the greatest good for the greatest number. So I ask you, if not health reform now, when?
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