Health Care Deadline Set

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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April 24, 2009

Health Care Deadline Set

The New Republic reports a deal on how to handle health care reform was hatched last night in a five-hour negotiating session at the office of Senate Majoriy Leader Harry Reid.

"It's been in the works for a while and now, according to senior Capitol Hill staffers, it's a done deal: The final budget resolution will include a 'reconciliation instruction' for health care. That means the Democrats can pass health care reform with just 50 votes, instead of the 60 it takes to break a filibuster."

The reconciliation instruction specifies October 15 as the drop dead date.

"In other words, the House and Senate each have until that day to pass health care legislation. If they haven't, then both houses will consider health care under the reconciliation process, which is relevant primarily for the way it affects the Senate. There will be a limit on the time of debate. Republicans won't be able to filibuster it."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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April 24, 2009