Schumer: Reconciliation is on the table (if Rethugs want to be relevant, they will have to behave)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Schumer said the Senate will move ahead with health care reform this year regardless of whether Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is able to strike a bipartisan deal. Baucus has until Sept. 15 to reach an agreement with Republicans -- and that is still the goal. "But if we don't, it is not going to stop us from moving forward with health care," Schumer told reporters Monday. "If the Republicans are not able to produce an agreement (by then), we will have contingencies in place. Health reform is just too important to let this window pass by." Among the options is invoking a procedural maneuver known as reconciliation, which would allow Senate Democrats to pass a bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote filibuster-proof threshold.

Schumer would not say what other contingency plans he had in mind. "I'm going to leave it at that because we want to get a bipartisan deal," Schumer said.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/...ealth_bill.html

Edited August 4, 2009 by w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Yep. It don't matter what passes. It will all be rewritten in conference.