This in today's Kaiser Health News on a Congress Daily Report:
Physician lobbyists met with several key lawmakers and administration officials Wednesday to push for action. "Senate Democratic leaders made a procedural move Tuesday night that allows the chamber to bypass the usual committee process and take the $245 billion fix, proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., straight to the floor. ... Leadership has indicated the merger will be swift. ... The fix faces three tough procedural hurdles that each will require 60 votes: a cloture vote, a budget point of order because the measure is not offset and a motion to proceed to the bill, a lobbyist source said."How many times have you heard the President say that any health care bill must be "deficit neutral?" How many times have you heard conservative and moderate Democrats say they won't vote for a health bill that isn't paid for?
What are the Democrats about to try?
Peeling out one of the biggest components of health care and quickly spending $245 billion to bolster physician fees over the next ten years, doing it separate from the "deficit neutral" health bill, and just adding the $245 billion cost of this to the deficit!
To do it they will need 60 votes in the Senate and most of the "Blue Dogs" in the House.
We are about to see just how fiscally responsible these moderate Democratic senators are and whether or not the Blue Dogs aren't just "Yellow Dogs."
Unbelievable!
