On the heels of yesterday’s New York Times report on the possibility of reconciliation, Sen. Chuck Schumer says Democrats will consider that option if the GOP doesn’t back their bill.

Senate Democratic leaders are promising to push through a health care bill even if negotiations with Republicans fail.

 

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday there are contingency steps that will be considered as a last resort. Among the possible steps is invoking a legislative procedure known as reconciliation. Such as step is problematic because of its strict limits on what would be allowed in the bill and what wouldn’t.

Sen. Chuck Grassley believes it will be possible to get a bill through both houses of Congress this year, but it will certainly come well after Obama wanted it.

“If we get a bill on the senate floor by the third or fourth week of September, it’s probably going to take two weeks. Probably take a month to negotiate the difference between the house and senate provisions, so I would suggest the middle of November,” Grassley says.

The threat of reconciliation cooled after it was initially proposed earlier this year, but the New York Times reports today that Democrats may still use the tactic to push through health reform.

With bipartisan health care negotiations teetering, Democrats are talking reluctantly — and very, very quietly — about exploiting a procedural loophole they planted in this year’s budget to skirt Republican filibusters against a health care overhaul.

 

They are talking reluctantly because using the tactic, officially known as reconciliation, would present a variety of serious procedural and substantive obstacles that could result in a piecemeal health bill. And they are whispering because the mere mention of reconciliation touches partisan nerves and could be viewed as a threat by the three Republicans still engaged in the delicate talks, causing them to collapse.

 

Yet with the discussions so far failing to produce an agreement, Democrats are exploring whether they could use the tactic as a last resort to secure a health care victory if they have to go it alone. The answer: It would not be pretty and it would not be preferable, but it could be doable.

Amid the anger liberals have voiced over Rep. Henry Waxman’s agreement with the Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, another deal has been worked out.  Liberals on the committee will now back the legislation.

Liberals on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have struck a deal with Blue Dogs that will restore some cuts by finding savings in other places, such as letting the government negotiate drug prices.

 

The deal would allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices and use the savings to lower insurance premiums in the exchanges that would be established in the bill, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Hill.

 

Another amendment calls for finding additional savings through other methods by simplifying Medicare and Medicare administrative costs.

 

The cuts sought by the Blue Dogs would remain in place unless the drug negotiation and other initiatives yield savings. But any savings would be used to lower premiums.

It’s now looking like the Finance Committee may not be able to produce a bill before recess.

After being “on the edge of a deal” earlier this week, the Senate Finance Committee has stalled in its health care negotiations, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is no longer promising that the committee will finish its work before the August recess.

 

Reid would only say he was “cautiously optimistic” that the committee would vote on a bill before the summer break begins next Friday. But in another blow to President Barack Obama’s attempt to move a bill through Congress by the recess, there were signs Thursday that Senate Democrats would not meet the latest deadline.

 

A morning negotiation session between the three Republicans and three Democrats did not happen as expected, and no further group meetings have been scheduled – an unusual break from the daily talks that have been ongoing for weeks.