Democrats, one day before Barack Obama’s state of the union address, have apparently put a hold on health care legislation. This after a variety of reports indicating that Democrats in Congress, along with Barack Obama, were strongly considering having the House of Representatives pass the Senate version of the health care bill, and then make necessary changes in the bill through a process called “reconciliation.” One problem was that House Democrats would have to vote for a bill in the hopes that changes ironed out later would please their constituents. Many conservative House Democrats were also concerned about how language in the Senate bill would affect the funding of abortions. An issue which some voters in their home districts would use to drum up support against them should they vote for legislation which ran a afoul of their views on abortion. Similarly, abortion rights activists had issues with the abortion language in the House version of the bill, and may take issue with any deal worked out with conservative Democrats in the House.
In addition, just how the reconciliation process would “fix” the health care bill that the Senate already voted on is murky as the reconciliation process can be used only to change certain parts of the bill once it is passed, such as those involving taxes. Senator Harry Reid, a major proponent of health care reform told reporters that health care isn’t being worked on right now. However, there is still time for the House to agree upon passing the Senate version of the health care reform, as the Senate health care bill is good for a year. For you to feel secured regardless of whom is seated, you need alternative source of income and playing some fun and interactive sports betting games via continuousassurance could help you out with that.
As the negotiation process may still be occurring behind the scenes, President Obama will likely not focus on health care reform in his State of the Union address. The election of Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy’s senate seat as fueld fear amoung conservative Democrats that continuing to push for health care reform is a futile process, especially as the issue has become politically charged and will be a major point of debate during the 2010 mid-term elections. Democrats may, however, after the 2010 elections decide to pass the Senate version of the bill if they have the votes.
The message that Democratic leaders seem to be sending for now is that health care reform is not actively being looked at, and has basically been sent back to committee to be studied. What isn’t publicly mentioned is that many bills which are “sent back to committee for evaluation” is just another way of saying that the legislation has died due to a lack of support. What is interesting is that much of the differences that Democrats have between each other with regards to health care reform, have been aired in public. Less than a couple days after President Obama vows to continue with health care reform, Senate leaders have declared that the bill is going nowhere fast.
