SPOTLIGHT: IMPATIENT PELOSI
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) earlier this week suggested that
Democrats would not hesitate to use the parliamentary procedure of
budget reconciliation to push a health care reform bill through the
Senate with only 51 votes. The Democrats' loss of a crucial seat in the
Senate to Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) last month -- ending their 60-vote,
filibuster-proof majority in the chamber -- has "revived" discussions in
the party to bypass potential filibusters by the Republicans. In recent
weeks, Pelosi has rebuffed calls from the White House for the House to
pass the Senate's reform bill as it stands and instead has urged Senate
Democrats to make revisions to the bill that would draw sufficient
support in the House through a separate filibuster-proof budget
reconciliation bill. Pelosi also said that she is looking forward to
hearing the Republicans' ideas for health care reform at the Feb. 25
televised bipartisan summit with President Obama. Pelosi said that if
"good idea[s]" emerge from the Feb. 25 meeting that work "for the
American people, we are receptive to that."
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