Friday, April 24, 2009

The Politics Of Reconciliation

From Tod Beeton at MyDD here.

How serious is the administration about insisting on the option of using reconciliation to pass healthcare reform?

Looking pretty damn serious:

In a meeting with House Republicans at the White House Thursday, President Obama reminded the minority that the last time he reached out to them, they reacted with zero votes -- twice -- for his stimulus package. And then he reminded them again. And again. And again.

A GOP source familiar with the meeting said that the president was extremely sensitive -- even "thin-skinned" -- to the fact that the stimulus bill received no GOP votes in the House. He continually brought it up throughout the meeting.

Obama also offered payback for that goose egg. A major overhaul of the health care system, he told the Republican leadership, would be done using a legislative process known as reconciliation, meaning that the GOP won't be able to filibuster it.

Sounds like the White House learned the right lesson from the stimulus debate and vote . . . .

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