Obama sets stage for using budget maneuver to pass health reform

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/58233-obama-sets-stage-for-using-budget-maneuver-to-pass-health-reform

President Barack Obama this week has been laying the foundation for
Senate Democrats to use a controversial budget maneuver to pass
healthcare reform.

By offering Republicans olive branches during his address to Congress
on Wednesday, Obama has set up a win-win situation. If GOP lawmakers
embrace compromise, a healthcare bill would pass Congress easily. But
the more likely scenario is that Republicans will continue to oppose
Obama's plan, and the president later this fall will be able to note
he tried to strike a deal with the GOP but could not.

That will set up a Democratic argument that Senate leaders have been
forced to use a partisan budget tool known as reconciliation to pass a
health bill through the Senate by a simple majority, instead of 60
votes. Under the budget plan they passed earlier this year, Democrats
could invoke the reconciliation process on Oct. 15.

Republicans contend that the use of reconciliation would be at odds
with Obama's call for bipartisanship during his 2008 presidential
campaign. But Obama has countered that argument in recent days by
forcefully resurrecting the anti-Washington rhetoric that got him
elected.

In Cincinnati on Monday, Obama blamed the "usual bickering in
Washington" for the "funk" supporters of healthcare reform were
enduring. And in a discussion with students at Wakefield High School
in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, Obama said "there are a lot of
politicians like that who, all they're thinking about is just, 'How do
I get reelected?' and so they never actually get anything done."

Then on Wednesday night, Obama sought to portray his health reform
plan as one that contains both Republican and Democratic ideas.

"The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed," Obama
said. "Now is the season for action."

Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) outburst on Wednesday was an unexpected
gift to the White House, accentuating Obama's point that bitter
politics is getting in the way of improving the healthcare of
Americans.

White House officials insist they still wants a broad bipartisan deal,
but — realizing that is likely out of reach — they have shifted their
strategy to focus on the bottom line.

"I think getting something done is paramount here," a senior
administration official said before Obama's address to Congress. "We
want to bring along everyone who's willing to come with us, but the
fact that not everyone is willing to come with us is not an excuse to
fail in dealing with what is really a fundamental issue that has to be
done."

On "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, Obama repeated his call for
Congress to stop playing politics. He also acknowledged he made a
tactical error in giving lawmakers too much leeway to craft a bill.

"I, out of an effort to give Congress the ability to do their thing
and not step on their toes, probably left too much ambiguity out
there, which allowed, then, opponents of reform to come in and to fill
up the airwaves with a lot of nonsense," Obama said.

The president also said that the White House has made every effort to
include Republicans and their ideas in the process, but blamed
"unyielding partisanship" for the absence of compromise.

"Part of the frustration I have is, is that on the Republican side
there are wonderful people who really operated on the basis of
pragmatism and common sense and getting things done," Obama said.
"Those voices have been — been, I think, shouted down on that side."

Obama publicly accepted Wilson's apology while at the same time
decrying "name-calling" he says the American people won't tolerate.

The president went so far as to warn Republicans that he "will not
waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better
politics to kill this plan than improve it."

Another aspect of the Democrats' rationale for using reconciliation
will likely be the $787 billion stimulus bill, which they note
included tax cuts but was only supported by three Republicans in
Congress.

Republicans, predictably wary of Obama's maneuvering, said if Obama is
setting up a defense of reconciliation, it will do little to blunt the
blowback from both Congress and the American people.

"If Democrats use controversial insider tactics to force a proposal
that the majority of Americans disagree with, not only would they
guarantee bipartisan opposition, but they would also spark a new level
of outrage among a huge majority of people in this country," said a
Senate Republican leadership aide.