If you’re keeping score on the question of passing health care reforms as part of a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation bill, then you know that Democratic leaders in the Senate see it as an absolute last resort; and you know that if they go there, then they don’t plan to test the limits of Senate rules along the way. The latter means that the reforms themselves would be subject to a number of arcane procedural tricks that could leave the legislation with some serious holes in it, and Democrats would either have to fill those holes separately, in a regular bill, or cross their fingers and hope things work out OK in the end anyhow. Meanwhile, liberal activists are pretty miffed that Democrats aren’t at least threatening to use the process as aggressively as they can, and that’s both widening the inter-party rift and leaving the party’s legislative efforts without much support from the base.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=137922