This is almost funny. The GOP Senate Leader, who has done more to destroy the reputation of the Senate and its comity, is dispensing advice to House Democrats. Yes, McConnell is now trying to inflict his obstructionist techniques on House Democrats:
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned House Democrats that they would be taking a colossal risk if they approved the Senate's version of health-care legislation before the Senate had acted to remove some of the bill's most contentious provisions. Now that Democrats have lost their supermajority in the Senate, some variation of this delicate two-step process is the only way a health-care reform bill can become law.I find it hard to believe that any Democrat will take political advice from Mitch McConnell. But, you never know.
"House Democrats will have to decide whether they want to trust the Senate to fix their political problems," McConnell said. He listed perks that Senate Democrats won for Nebraska, Louisiana, Florida and labor unions; House members insist that all must be removed through a separate "fixes" bill under special budget reconciliation rules.
And, any House Democrat who is worried should check out this post by Chris Bowers at OpenLeft:
there are now 53 Senators on record publicly open to using reconciliation on health care. That should help increase confidence in the viability of the "sidecar bill" reconciliation fix strategy.Also, via WhipCongress, 40 of those Democratic Senators support passing a public option through reconciliation.
