WASHINGTON — Scott Brown’s stunning upset in Massachusetts blew a massive hole in plans for passing health-care reform, with Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia bluntly warning party leaders not to ram anything through until Brown gets seated.
The White House and congressional Democrats had been drawing up emergency plans for how to move health care quickly in the event Democrat Marsha Coakley lost, depriving them of the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters
“How do we do it with 59?” asked Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens), fearing health-care reform could be dead.
At least one plan involved slapping together a final compromise and moving it before Brown got seated — a plan that can’t work without unanimous Democratic support.
Calling the vote a referendum “on the openness and integrity of our government process,” Webb said last night it would be “fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health-care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.” That left Democrats with other Plan B’s even as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs vowed that health care was still a priority for President Obama.
Deep divisions exist within the party over the substance of different bills passed by the House and Senate, with moderates worried about the sprawling plan’s high cost and liberals resentful of a series of Senate compromises.
A leading option would be to have House members swallow the Senate-passed bill by passing it word for word and seeking changes later, freeing the Senate from having to act again.
But this could infuriate centrists who backed tougher House anti-abortion language and those on the left who want the House bill’s public option, along with union leaders.
“The Senate bill clearly is better than nothing,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland.
Under such a scenario, leaders would have to promise House members — who would be going out on a limb by backing a Senate bill many of them find distasteful — that they could fix the bill later.
Democratic leaders could also try to jam a bill through the Senate using a special fast-track reconciliation procedure with a simple majority, though this could hit snags and would infuriate the minority party. .