Brown Win Leaves Dems Desperate, Scrambling To Salvage Health Care Bill
Posted by admin in Democrats
As Capitol Hill attempts to overcome the shock over Republican U.S. Senator-elect from Massachusetts Scott Brown’s earth-shattering victory last night, the upset appears to have left supporters of President Obama’s health care bill with few options to save the massive overhaul from defeat.
In his acceptance speech Tuesday night, Brown confirmed a primary theme of his campaign: that he would cast a critical 41st vote against the health care bill, leaving Democrats unable to surmount a Republican filibuster to destroy the measure. Brown defeated Democrat opponent Martha Coakley 52%-47% to overtake the seat held by Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy for nearly 47 years.
“One thing is very, very clear as I traveled across this state. People do not want the trillion dollar health care plan that is being forced on the American people, and this bill is not being debated openly and fairly,” said Brown to cheering crowds. “It will raise taxes, it will hurt Medicare, it will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper in to debt.
“The independent majority has delivered a great victory.”
Many experts project that the Brown win will have catastrophic consequences for the health care overhaul, although Democrats are floating a few options. One of the most talked-about ideas has been to convince the House to pass the whole Senate bill unamended, thus allowing the bill to avoid a second Senate vote.
Leaders would then attempt to accommodate House Democrats’ interests in health care reform with a follow-up, separate budget bill, which would dodge the filibuster by requiring only 51 Senate votes through a process known as reconciliation.
It is unclear, however, how central House Democrat demands for health care reform – such as a more comprehensive public insurance option – could be resolved in a bill restricted purely to federal budget issues.
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