Fixing the Bill: Get the Senate on Board

On Friday, E.J. Dionne reported a key development in the healthcare reform effort, serious discussion of the "sidecar" option--the Senate bill and the necessary fixes done by reconciliation:

The catch is that the House Democrats don’t believe the Senate Democrats will necessarily keep their word and pass the reconciliation bill containing the amendments. And it’s not only the question of trust: anyone who has watched the Senate for the last year can be forgiven for wondering if it is even functional enough (given Republican obstruction and a lack of cohesion in the Democratic caucus) to keep a promise sincerely made.

So here’s an idea, I have been told reliably, that leaders of both Houses are considering: The House would pass a version of the reconciliation bill containing the various amendments and send it to the Senate. The Senate would change it slightly (in ways that the House agreed to), which would require the House to vote on it again. Only after it got the revised reconciliation bill would the House take up the Senate bill. The House could then pass both bills and send both to the president. Problem solved, health-care passes, and we move on.

Politico reports on this approach.

The effort also puts Reid and Pelosi on the side of giving a sweeping reform bill one more try, instead of adopting a course being floated by some Democrats in Congress and at the White House of adopting a scaled-back bill including popular reform provisions....

The changes being considered track closely with the agreements House and Senate leaders made in White House meetings last week, according to a source. They include the deal with labor unions to ease the tax on high-end insurance plans, additional Medicare cuts and taxes, the elimination of a special Medicaid funding deal for Nebraska and a move to help cover the gap in seniors' prescription-drug coverage. Pelosi is also working to change the Senate provision that sets up state insurance exchanges. The House prefers a single, national exchange.

The House is "way short" of having the votes to just pass the Senate's "irrevocably tarnished" version of the bill. The Nebraska deal, which now even Ben Nelson wants stripped, the House feels, has damaged the package too much. Passing the excise tax is viewed as political suicide post-Massachusetts.

There are also critical, substantive problems with the Senate's approach, including the fact that insurance reforms don't apply to people who have employer provided insurance for the most part, that they allow insurers to effectively continue to underwrite by charging higher premiums to whole families if there is a smoker or if an individual doesn't meet the outcomes result for a wellness program (like weight loss, BMI measurement, running certain miles a week. In order to get all those ConservaDems on board, the Senate's bill is very slanted in both Medicaid and Medicare to rural states, and its funding mechanism for Medicaid expansions could hurt populous, struggling states like California and New York and provide a windfall for small states with worse Medicaid programs that cover far fewer people. It's not just petulance that keeps the House from wanting to just pass this bill. It's substance.

And they don't want to be punked yet again. If we're going to get comprehensive healthcare reform done now, it has to be with the Senate's agreement. That agreement has to come before the House will act, and as of last week, the Senate Dems refused to consider spending any more time doing their job on this, when leadership tried to get the commitment of 50 Senators to sign a letter saying they'd pledge to pass a fix through reconciliation.

They need to hear from us that we expect them to do their jobs and work with the House. Contact your Democratic Senator(s) and ask if they are committed to using reconciliation to pass the fixes necessary so health care reform can be signed into law. Report your results in this thread.

Contact information for individual Senators is below the fold. You can also call the Capitol switchboard at [phone] and ask to be connected to your Senator.

Capitol switchboard: [phone]

Akaka, Daniel  - (D - HI)
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Baucus, Max  - (D - MT)
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Web Form:  baucus.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Bayh, Evan - (D - IN)
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Begich, Mark (D - AK)
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Bennet, Michael  - (D - CO)
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Bingaman, Jeff - (D - NM)
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Boxer, Barbara  - (D - CA)
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Brown, Sherrod  - (D - OH)
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Burris, Roland  - (D - IL)
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Byrd, Robert  - (D - WV)
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Cantwell, Maria - (D - WA)
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Cardin, Ben - (D - MD)
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Carper, Thomas - (D - DE)
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Casey, Robert P., Jr. - (D - PA)
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Conrad, Kent  - (D - ND)
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Dodd, Christopher - (D – CT)
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Dorgan, Byron - (D - ND)
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Durbin, Richard - (D - IL)
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Feingold, Russell  - (D - WI)
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Feinstein, Dianne - (D - CA)
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Franken, Al - (D - MN)
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Gillibrand, Kirsten - (D - NY)
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Hagan, Kay - (D - NC)
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Harkin, Tom - (D - IA)
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Inouye, Daniel - (D - HI)
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Johnson, Tim  - (D - SD)
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Kaufman, Ted - (D - DE)
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Kerry, John - (D - MA)
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Kirk, Paul - (D - MA)
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Kohl, Herb - (D - WI)
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Klobuchar, Amy - (D - MN)
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Landrieu, Mary  - (D - LA)
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Lautenberg, Frank - (D – NJ)
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Leahy, Patrick - (D - VT)
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Levin, Carl - (D - MI)
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Lincoln, Blanche - (D - AR)
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McCaskill, Claire - (D - MO)
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Menendez, Robert - (D - NJ)
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Merkley, Jeff - (D - OR)
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Mikulski, Barbara - (D - MD)
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Murray, Patty  - (D - WA)
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Nelson, Bill - (D - FL)
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Nelson, Ben - (D - NE)
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Pryor, Mark - (D - AR)
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Reed, Jack - (D - RI)
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Reid, Harry - (D - NV)
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Rockefeller, John - (D - WV)
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Sanders, Bernie - (I - VT)
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Schumer, Charles - (D - NY)
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Shaheen, Jeanne - (D - NH)
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Specter, Arlen - (D - PA)
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Stabenow, Debbie - (D - MI)
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Tester, Jon - (D - MT)
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Udall, Mark - (D - CO)
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Udall, Tom - (D - NM)
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Warner, Mark - (D - VA)
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Webb, Jim - (D - VA)
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Whitehouse, Sheldon - (D - RI)
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Wyden, Ron - (D - OR)
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