The Senate is going to start of with a bang today, and has a big, controversial week ahead.
After working through the weekend, the Senate will reconvene Monday for an eighth day of debate and potentially the first controversial amendment, addressing the issue of abortion coverage. After the abortion vote, expected Monday or Tuesday, the Senate could tackle another high-profile amendment: a bipartisan bid to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries....
Meanwhile, on the issue of abortion, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), working with Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), planned to offer an amendment Monday to bar federal money from being used for the procedure under the legislation. The amendment would mirror language adopted in the House on Nov. 7, over the strong opposition of abortion-rights groups. It would prohibit any public plan from covering abortion services, and would bar people who receive federal subsidies from using the money to buy plans that offer abortion coverage.
Democratic abortion opponents have not said what they will do if the amendment fails, as is expected. Nelson is the most outspoken of the group, and he has sent mixed signals in recent days. Although Nelson has often asserted that he cannot accept the current language on abortion, and at times threatened to filibuster the measure over the issue, he has also said he might be open to an alternative if it meets his underlying objective.
"I'm not going to start working against the language that I'm going to bring forward," Nelson said. "If it doesn't get passed, there are going to be people talking, but it certainly is not a lock that there's language in the middle. . . . I'm not going to negotiate against myself at this point."
There are a variety of ways this can play out for Nelson, as David detailed over at Congress Matters, and all of them provide great potential to muck up the general works for the progress of this bill. It's highly unlikely the bill will meet a 60 vote threshold, how it plays out from there is anybody's guess.
Meanwhile, negotiations continue over the public option, without any direct input from Obama.
Obama told reporters that the meeting was a "pep talk," not a negotiation.
Obama didn't take questions from the senators or mention the two issues now dividing Senate Democrats and preventing passage of the bill: a government-run insurance plan and restrictions on federal funds for abortion. But Democrats said that Obama's remarks gave them a boost as they try to strike compromises to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill....
Senate Democratic leaders along with a core group of five centrist and five liberal Democrats have been locked in negotiations over the public option since Friday. Democrats said they're considering a number of compromises on the public option, including one that would put the independent Office of Personnel Management in charge of the new insurance plan instead of the Health and Human Services Department.
Negotiations lasted until 7:30 p.m. Sunday, with senators at one point dining on takeout Chinese food.
"We have had a really intense three hours of discussion and we are not there yet by any stretch of the imagination, but we're finding a good deal of give and take that leads to common ground," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
Schumer and the members of the group didn't give any specifics about their talks. But Schumer said that the group found "a good deal of common ground" and that staffers would be working hard over the next few days on the proposals.
The OPM not a public option compromise is apparently still in the mix. The Senate is scheduled to stay in until December 18, then break for the holiday recess. That is, however, a tenative plan, as the Senate is fully prepared to work through the remainder of the month.