To give you an idea of how laugh out loud ludicrous some in the Democratic controlled Congress are making the health care fight, get a load of Brian Beutler’s headline:
51 Vote Rules May Force a Public Option Too Liberal for Some Dems
A “public option too liberal for some Dems.” If that doesn’t hit our dilemma in the bull’s eye, while also revealing why Republicans have always planned to fight health care reform until their last political breath. They know they’ve got help on our side.
… According to Martin Paone, a legislative expert who’s helping Democrats map out legislative strategy, a more robust public option–one that sets low prices, and provides cheap, subsidized insurance to low- and middle-class consumers–would have an easier time surviving the procedural demands of the so-called reconciliation process. However, he cautions that the cost of subsidies “will have to be offset and if [the health care plan] loses money beyond 2014…it will have to be sunsetted.”
And there the irony continues: Some experts, including on Capitol Hill, believe that a more robust public option will generate crucial savings needed to keep health care reform in the black–and thus prevent it from expiring. But though that may solve the procedural problems, conservative Democrats have balked at the idea creating such a momentous government program, and if they defected in great numbers, they could imperil the entire reform package.
It’s a very technical conundrum with huge policy ramifications. So it’s not surprising that Republicans are on to it, and preparing for war. …
Sen. Judd Gregg, the man Obama wanted in his cabinet, and senior Republican on the Budget Committee, plans to lead the opposition in a “vicious fight” according to the Hill, foreshadowing the mother of all procedural battles to bring health care reform down.
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