From The Hill:
At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on her nomination to HHS, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) asserted that although Obama would prefer that health reform be bipartisan, he is not ready to tie his own hands.
"There is an interest in not taking any tools off the table," Sebelius said in response to a request by committee ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) that she reject reconciliation.
Enzi replied that if Democrats use reconciliation, which would enable them to pass a healthcare bill with just 51 votes rather than the 60 normally required in the Senate, it would be the equivalent of a "declaration of war" on the minority.
Oh brother. Drama queen much, Mike? Republicans certainly didn't have any problem using reconciliation when they were in power. Of course Enzi does have a couple of Democrats in his corner:
Key Senate Democrats such as Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.), however, say they do not want to poison the atmosphere in the upper chamber while there is still an opportunity to assemble a bipartisan coalition for a health reform bill.
Again, oh brother. We've already seen how much good it does to try and be bipartisan. So instead of watering down health care in the hopes that one or two Republicans get on board, how about working to get actual health care reform enacted instead?