It appears that Democrats are abandoning the deem-and-pass strategy that had been bandied about over the past week and will instead have straight up-or-down votes on the original Senate bill and the companion reconciliation bill. These arguments about process have struck me as so much inside baseball that gets us political types excited, but is dull and irrelevant to average folks. Most Americans want something done to address health care reform and I doubt they care much about the parliamentary maneuvers used to arrive at a final vote. Still, in the event that this legislation does pass, it gives the Fox News zombies pundits one less talking point to support their paranoid claims that the law was somehow jammed through Congress.
In other health care news, MinnPost is running a good overview of how the health care bill would be of tremendous help to low-income Minnesotans who are currently covered through the state-funded General Assistance Medical Care program. If the bill passes, except a lot more chatter at the Legislature on expanding Medicaid as a replacement for GAMC. It won’t be easy for the state to come up with the necessary matching funds and the governor will probably be cool to the idea, but Democrats can make a strong case that it would be foolish to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid.
Still thinking about liveblogging tomorrow’s vote. Stay tuned.
Yes, I think you should liveblog tomorrow’s vote. (Either that or just call/text me with the most exiting plays!)