It's gut check time. Obama, Reid and Pelosi have the power to pass HCR with a public option or expanded Medicare, IF the following statements are true:
* Obama would not veto a bill that has a public option or expanded Medicare.
* Reid would prefer a bill with a public option or expanded Medicare.
* Pelosi would prefer a bill with a public option or expanded Medicare.
If you doubt any of the above, then this diary is not for you. OTH, if you agree with these statements, it's time to let go of the notion that Lieberman and Nelson are an insurmountable hurdle to the passage of real reform. They are not. They are irrelevant.
Those of you who've read my previous diary may be shaking your heads, muttering, "Not this shit again," but I ask you not to spoil it for the others who may wish to follow me below the fold...
Nuclear Option.
Please keep in mind the three asterisked suppositions in the intro. If these statements are indeed true, here's how we get real health care reform.
Rather than amending the Senate bill and ping ponging it back to them, Pelosi insists the two bills go to conference.
Reid and Pelosi choose conferees who are on board with the nuclear option strategy.
The merged bill reported out of conference has a PO at least as strong as the one previously approved by the House. Alternatively, it has a Medicare expansion provision, coupled with meaningful, affordable out-of-pocket caps (instead of just taxpayer funded subsidies channeled directly to the insurance industry). As a face saving sop to the Stupak/Nelson woman haters, the bill contains a provision that says insurance companies in the exchange that offer abortion coverage will have to set aside an actuarially justifiable percentage of the premium into a fund that can only be drawn on to pay abortion claims. This miniscule percentage would undoubtedly be less than any subsidy a policy holder may be receiving. Ergo, no federal funds are being used to pay for abortions.
Because the conference bill is substantially similar to the bill the House has already passed, it passes again. (Stupak is told to say 10 Hail Marys and three Our Fathers and shut the fuck up.)
In the Senate, Lieberman, Nelson and five or six other Dinosaurs join the Grand Obstructionist Party in a filibuster.
Senator Franken rises with a point of order, requesting the Chair to invoke cloture, justified by the fact that more than ample time has been given to all parties since mid summer to make their views known.
The Chair rules in favor and directs the bill be given an up or down vote.
Republican Senator Whoever-the-fuck jumps to his feet and sputters with apoplectic rage, "You can't do that! I appeal the Chair's socialist/facist ruling."
Debate on the appeal ensues, and will not end until 60 Senators vote to end the debate, UNLESS...
Senator Sanders moves to table the debate. (A motion to table requires a simple majority.) On an up or down vote to table the appeal the forty "no" votes from the Republicans are a given. "No" from Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu, Lincoln and probably three or four others are a given. BUT, who among the remaining Democrats would have the guts to be the 51st Senator to vote to torpedo health care reform in order to uphold the sacred "traditions" of the Senate?
The motion to appeal the Chair's ruling having been tabled, that ruling stands. Filibuster dead. HCR passes with a simple majority.
......
It's gut check time.
If Obama, Reid and Pelosi want real health care reform, it is within their power to deliver it. It really is that simple.
Don't tell me we have to accept this watered down piece of Senate shit because of Lieberman or Nelson. We don't need their votes. Fuck 'em.