Flickr/talkradionews (Creative Commons)
The fate of health-care legislation looks more ominous by the day. Today, House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters there aren’t enough votes in the House to even pass the weaker Senate version, let alone a House-Senate compromise on health care. She also said there’s no timeline in mind for getting a bill of some kind passed, an indication that the health-care-induced logjam is far from over. This could reflect the lingering doubt stemming from the Massachusetts special election, but either way it doesn’t bode well. TPM reports:
“I don’t see the votes for it at this time,” Pelosi said. “The members have been very clear in our caucus about the fact that they didn’t like it before it had the Nebraska provision and some of the other provisions that are unpalatable to them.”
“In every meeting that we have had, there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now the way that it is,” she said. “There isn’t a market right now for proceeding with the full bill unless some big changes are made.”
While she didn’t say the option was dead — “Everything is on the table,” she said — she outlined two very different options for passing a bill.
“There’s a recognition that there’s a foundation in that bill that’s important. So one way or another those areas of agreement that we have will have to be advanced, whether it’s by passing the Senate bill with any changes that can be made, or just taking [pieces of it],” Pelosi said.
“We have to get a bill passed — we know that. That’s a predicate that we all subscribe to.”
