U S News & World Report reported yesterday on Harry Reid's plan to move the healthcare bill forward.
The article reports:
"Despite their claims to the contrary, the way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have handled the healthcare bill has been anything but transparent. And, if the left-wing blogosphere is to be believed, the two congressional leaders intend to keep the deliberations secret as they try to merge the House and Senate versions of the legislation into something that will pass both chambers."
There are a few reasons for this secrecy. It avoids having to cut a deal with Michigan's Bart Stupak, who has stated that he will work to defeat the bill if it has federal funding for abortion. Also, if the bill does not go through the standard House/Senate conference committee, it will not need 60 votes to pass in the Senate. Evidently, the Democrat party is not sure they can get 60 votes again. This process also blocks out the Republicans from the process. This makes any success or failure of the new healthcare bill (taxes and healthcare) the responsibility of the Democrats. This could make for a very interesting 2010 mid-term election.
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