A health care overhaul without the GOP
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: Later today, President Obama will outline his plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. All indications are that his plan will use a legislative tactic that requires little or no Republican support. Here’s Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall Genzer.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: Reconciliation was created in 1974. It’s a way to get difficult bills through Congress. Under the rules, bills can’t be filibustered in the Senate. But the procedure is only supposed to be used with legislation affecting the federal budget. That can include a lot of bills.
Jordan Lieberman publishes Campaigns and Elections Politics magazine:
Jordan Liberman: You can make the argument that virtually anything that comes out of Congress, unless it’s a simple resolution, has some spending or revenue component to it.
That’s the argument congressional Democrats are making about the health care overhaul. If all goes as planned, the House would pass the Senate health care bill first. Then House members would approve a reconciliation measure to fix the Senate bill. The Senate would then pass the legislation and send it to President Obama.
In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.
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