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Senate Democrats'
Coalition on Health Reform said to be Fracturing |
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With debate on the Senate healthcare bill
to begin this week, media reports indicate that Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) faces a difficult challenge in herding
the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. The
AP (11/30) reports, "The
60 votes aren't there any more. With the Senate set to begin
debate Monday on healthcare overhaul, the all-hands-on-deck
Democratic coalition that allowed the bill to advance is
fracturing already." The AP notes the fractures include
divisions on abortion and the public option, and the stakes for
Reid. The public is "ambivalent about the Democrats'
legislation. While 58% want elected officials to tackle
healthcare now, about half of those supporters say they don't
like what they're hearing about the plans, according to a new
Kaiser Family Foundation poll."
Politico (11/30, Brown)
reports the "next phase in the Democrats' healthcare push will
be waged in the privacy of the Senate leadership office," where
Reid "will attempt to do something that has eluded him all year:
negotiate a compromise on the public insurance option that can
garner 60 votes and win over a public still leery of reform."
Republicans want "six weeks of debate -- which would be enough
to push the final vote past Christmas -- and have an arsenal of
stalling tactics. But Democrats can short-circuit the debate all
at once, simply by reaching a deal on the public option and
filing cloture on the bill, which would set up the final crucial
test vote before final passage."
The Hill (11/30, Young)
lists seven issues likely to come up in the amendments to the
Senate bill, including the public option, abortion, the health
insurance excise tax on "high-cost health insurance plans,"
which "may enjoy support in the White House but many Democrats
and labor unions remain staunchly opposed to what they view as a
middle-class tax hike"; prescription drugs, affordability,
insurance exchanges and Medicare cuts. The
Wall Street Journal
(11/30, Bendavid, subscription required) also reports on
amendments that will likely affect the course of the bill,
noting that proposals made by both conservative and liberal
lawmakers will complicate the bill's progress. Meanwhile,
USA Today (11/30,
Fritze) discusses the senators who are expected to play a key
role in the debate.
Senate
leaders face challenges in passing healthcare reform.
CQ Weekly (11/30, Wayne,
Armstrong, subscription required) reports, "Despite a narrow and
hard-won victory in their quest to bring healthcare overhaul to
the floor, Senate backers begin this week effectively facing an
impasse over the legislation." CQ adds that the "Democratic
leadership barely mustered the 60 votes -- on strict party lines
-- needed to keep Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill alive and
move it forward." Notably, moderate Democrats who supported Reid
have "served notice...that he cannot count on them to vote for
passage unless the legislation is made more to their liking."
Senate bill
would delay implementation of many reforms.
The
Washington Post (11/30,
Hilzenrath) reports, "Measured against the promises President
Obama and congressional Democrats have made about healthcare
reform, the bill the Senate begins debating this week could be
setting Americans up for disappointment: Some of the main
reforms would not take place for several years, and even when
they do, some observers say, the bill does too little to make
sure they would be enforced." Until 2014, "insurance companies
could continue to deny coverage or charge higher premiums based
on people's medical history." Another "highly touted reform --
banning annual and lifetime limits on coverage -- would take
effect in 2010, but it would permit significant exceptions."
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