Democrats May Bypass Republicans On Health Plan, Schumer Says
Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus set a Sept. 15 deadline for getting a bipartisan agreement among six senators on the panel who are negotiating a deal.
“If we cannot produce a bipartisan solution by then, you have to wonder if the Republicans would ever be willing to agree to anything,” Schumer said on a conference call with reporters yesterday. “We will enact health-care reform by the end of the year. If the Republicans are not able to produce an agreement, we will have contingencies in play.”
Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said the group of six senators will discuss an exact date this week. “Weve got to have some kind of stopping point here,” he said.
Schumer said Democrats may invoke the practice of “reconciliation,” which requires only 51 votes for Senate passage. The Democrats control 60 votes, enough to quash Republican efforts to block action on the bill. Party leaders cant rely on all 60 because of the illnesses of two senators, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
The reconciliation procedure “is clearly one of the contingencies on the table,” said Schumer, a member of the finance panel.
Millions of Uninsured
The House and Senate are debating plans to expand health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans while reining in soaring costs. Three House panels and one in the Senate have passed measures.
The Senate Finance Committee, which has struggled with negotiations, has until the end of this week to reach a bipartisan agreement before the Senate goes on a monthlong recess. Baucus said last week the panel wont take a vote before the break.
During yesterdays conference call, Schumer and Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, also accused Senate Republican leaders of trying to obstruct a health-care plan.
“We have seen a handful of brave Republicans who want to see successful reform committed to work through tough issues,” Menendez said. “Every time we make a breakthrough, the Republican leadership cracks the whip, it stalls the process.”
“Why hang us up on another deadline?” said Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of three Republicans negotiating with Baucus and two other Democrats on a bipartisan plan. “Whether its Sept. 15 or another date, it should be immaterial when we are making progress.”
Snowe said the earlier deadlines for Congress to act “gave a false sense we could wrap our arms around this and drive it through.” The public “got nervous and rightfully so,” she said.
Another of the three Republicans, Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming, said in a statement he wont agree to an “artificial deadline.”
“Were making progress, but we still have several significant, outstanding items to work on,” said Enzi, who added that he was unaware any deadline had been set. “I wont be moved by partisan threats to misuse the budget-reconciliation process.” Republican Charles Grassley also is taking part in the bipartisan negotiations.
At Enzis request for more time, Baucus agreed to continue the negotiations until September, postponing any committee vote on the legislation until after Congress returns from its August break.
Party-Line Bill
“Nobody in the Democrat leadership has signed on to any bipartisan approach,” Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, said in an e-mail. “They support the party-line bill” approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “But none of them have supported the proposals coming out of the finance committee — in fact theyve shot them down,” Stewart said.
Early last month, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid urged Baucus to find alternatives to taxing employer-provided health- care benefits, according to an aide close to the talks who declined to be identified discussing the private negotiations.