Parliamentarian ruling complicates Democrats' plans

The Democrats' plan for passing the health overhaul has been waylaid by the Senate parliamentarian, who ruled President Obama must first sign into law the Senate-passed health bill before the senators could consider separate legislation that would alter it on behalf of House members, The Hill reports. "The ruling means House Democrats would have to rely on a good-faith promise that senators will pass the changes after the healthcare bill is signed into law, a difficult prospect at a time when lower-chamber lawmakers have grown distrustful of their Senate counterparts" (Bolton, 3/11).

Before the rulings, CBS News explains, "Democrats were planning on bypassing Republican obstruction -- as well as reaching a compromise on the legislation within their own party -- with a multi-step process: The House would pass the health care bill already approved by the Senate. Then, both the House and Senate would pass a 'fix it' bill that would amend the Senate bill. The 'fix it' bill would pass the Senate via a process called reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes." Yesterday's ruling "could foil Democrats' plans to avoid signing into law the 'sweetheart deals' that have tainted the Senate bill" (Condon, 3/11).

Senate Republicans touted the parliamentarian's ruling Thursday, but House Democrats say it will not affect their plans, since they have different rules from the Senate, CongressDaily reports. "That includes a rule that would declare the Senate bill passed upon passage of the reconciliation package, in effect helping House Democrats avoid an uncomfortable vote on the Senate-passed bill." A Democratic aide "then said the president would sign the Senate-passed bill before the Senate votes on reconciliation. It would appear that could cause a problem with House members who distrust the Senate to actually pass the reconciliation bill, but the aide said the House is good with proceeding that way" (Edney and Friedman, 3/12).

In making the ruling, "[t]he Senate Parliamentarian's Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership," Roll Call reports. "The answers were provided verbally, sources said." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in response to Republicans: "Reconciliation will not exclude Republicans from the legislative process. You will continue to have an opportunity to offer amendments and change the shape of the legislation. In addition, at the end of the process, the bill can pass only if it wins a democratic, up-or-down majority vote. If Republicans want to vote against a bill that reduces health care costs, fills the prescription drug 'donut hole' for seniors and reduces the deficit, you will have every right to do so" (Drucker, 3/11).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.