Lingering in the background of the health care debate in Congress has been the possibility that Democrats won’t be able to get as much as they want from Republicans through the normal legislative process and will be forced to advance reform (or elements of reform) through the reconciliation process, which can’t be filibustered. That may be a remote possibility, but it significantly changes the political dynamic on the Hill–in absence of this alternative route, meeting the expected 60 vote threshold in the Senate would become, to a greater extent than it already is, the guiding force behind the process.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=141198