Threat of Using Reconciliation Remains

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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December 01, 2009

Threat of Using Reconciliation Remains

"Talk about using budget reconciliation to pass health care reform in the Senate has faded from public view, but Democratic leaders continue to hang the threat over centrists in private," reports The Hill.

"Under reconciliation, healthcare legislation could pass with a simple majority after a strictly limited floor debate. But lawmakers would have to carve up the bill to eliminate provisions that do not clearly raise revenue or cut spending and therefore would be subject to parliamentary objections. Reid has said that he could pass a government-run health insurance program, known as the public option, under reconciliation."

Said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE): "Some, citing comments from Sen. Reid, say reconciliation is off the table. But it will be right back on the table if we allow the normal Senate parliamentary procedures to break down."

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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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December 01, 2009