Fri, Nov 27 2009
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Published November 04, 2009 09:01 am - Delay is rarely good for politicians trying to pass legislation. The possibility that Congress might not complete action on a major health care bill this year is another frustration for President Barack Obama and his allies. Analysis: Health care delay would frustrate ObamaWASHINGTON (AP) — Delay is rarely good for politicians trying to pass legislation. The possibility that Congress might not complete action on a major health care bill this year is another frustration for President Barack Obama and his allies. Even if it doesn’t sink the health care effort, a delay would raise new uncertainties and push other domestic priorities further back. It also would give opponents a chance to pick off nervous Democratic lawmakers eyeing their November 2010 re-election campaigns. Even some House Democrats with safe seats don’t like the idea of voting on a contentious bill until it’s clear that the Senate will follow suit. Obama has swallowed one disappointing postponement already this year, when the House and Senate failed to move separate bills before the August recess. Opponents used that lull to rip into the proposed health care changes in raucous public forums. Democrats are unlikely to be caught off guard again if the legislative battle goes past the Christmas-New Year’s break. But any delay gives opponents more time to organize and campaign. The new questions were raised Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters in the Capitol that he couldn’t promise a health care package will pass this year. “We’re not going to be bound by any timelines,” Reid said. “We’re going to do this legislation as expeditiously as we can, but we’re going to do it as fairly as we can.” A couple of hours later, Reid spokesman Jim Manley issued a more upbeat statement. “Our goals remain unchanged,” Manley said. “We want to get health insurance reform done this year, and we have unprecedented momentum to achieve that. There is no reason why we can’t have a transparent and thorough debate in the Senate and still send a bill to the president by Christmas.” White House officials played down Reid’s comments. “We’re moving on the same timeline,” said spokesman Reid Cherlin. “The House plans to vote on the health reform bill within days, and as Sen. Reid said today, he shares the White House’s commitment to passing meaningful reform by Christmas.” Cherlin said senators will move swiftly once the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finishes its review of Senate proposals. Any setback for Obama and the Democrats would raise troubling memories of President Bill Clinton’s failure to enact health care legislation in 1993-94 and the subsequent Republican takeover of Congress. Senate rules, and ingrained Senate habits — such as holding few if any votes on Mondays and Fridays — make it easy for opponents of any legislation to draw out the process. The bid to revamp the nation’s health care system, and insure millions of people now lacking coverage, is more complex than most. Reid is trying to meld portions of two massive bills, one from the Finance Committee, the other from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He is submitting parts of the plan to CBO analysts to see if the Senate can hold the cost to $900 billion over 10 years, as Obama has insisted. 
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