Are Dems pulling the vacation card? First Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said the Senate should work on health care through August if it had to. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is singing a similar tune. “I want a bill,” she told reporters today. And if the legislation can get to a vote of the full House, she thinks it will pass. “I have no doubt we have the votes on the floor of the House to pass this legislation,” she said.
Offering to work through vacation to get health care done could prove to be a potent political tool for Democrats. Republicans want to delay the bill. But they could be made to look bad if they want to go on vacation while the Dems want to stay and work. It could be a win-win for the Democrats: either the threat of working over vacation makes negotiations move faster, or the reality of working through vacation allows them to get the bill done. You might want to bet on the former: no one wants to spend August in DC.
