Grand Bargains
by digby
Democratic hopes for passing a broad healthcare overhaul in the U.S. Senate took a hit on Thursday when a crucial party holdout, Ben Nelson, rejected a compromise on abortion funding aimed at winning his vote. Senate Democratic leaders, racing the clock to finish work on the bill before leaving for the holidays, struggled to line up the 60 votes they need to overcome Republican procedural hurdles. Democrats have no margin of error — they control exactly 60 votes and face so far unified Republican opposition. Nelson, an abortion rights opponent, said compromise language designed to strengthen a ban on using federal funds for abortions was not good enough to meet his concerns. “As it is, without further modifications, the language concerning abortion isn’t sufficient,” Nelson said in a statement, adding he would not back Democrats on a series of upcoming procedural votes without more changes to the bill.
Maybe if they agree to lower the subsidies and reduce the Medicaid expansion to some arbitrary number pulled out of thin air for no good reason, they can get one of the Maine twins to vote for the bill. It worked with the stimulus. And if that won’t fly they could get rid of all the insurance reforms and then they might even be able to get Voinovich. As a last resort they could require that only Blue States be required to pay taxes. I heard that Kay Baily Hutchinson has indicated she might be up for that although she wouldn’t commit.
Or they can just throw the women overboard. It’s all good. We’ll get this thing by Christmas.
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