Do Dems Still Need 60 Senate Votes for Health Care?
Now that health care reform is moving to the floor of the Senate, Democratic leaders are parsing over the details of the bill, devising ways secure 60 votes for reform — starting today, however, they do not necessarily have to. This past summer, the Senate wrote into its budget rules that beginning Oct. 15, they could use a procedural maneuver called “reconciliation” to pass health care reform, which would allow the bill to pass with 51 votes instead of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. A committee in the House of Representatives today quietly took the precautions necessary to allow the Senate to proceed with reconciliation, if it comes to that. Democrats insist, however, the Senate will avoid it. After Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) passed a health care bill out of his committee with the help of one Republican, he said it is clear reconciliation will be avoided, Politico reports. Democrats want to avoid the maneuver with good reason, analysts say. “There
