From Emily Campbell of The Center for Community Solutions.
The political calculus not just for health reform but for virtually all of Congress’s work this year changed dramatically on Tuesday. At least one Republican vote will be needed to pass most significant legislation in the Senate so the Congressional Leadership and White House have retool their short and longer range plans.
Here’s what we know at the moment: the Democratic Leadership in the House and Senate is working with the White House to devise a process to complete work on health reform legislation but that could take some time. They want to shift the focus to jobs and the economy but the prospects for moving a jobs bill in the Senate are uncertain now, too. Nonetheless, the Senate is expected to focus on this after it completes work on the debt limit bill which the Senate is currently debating. That debate will stretch into next week. The debt limit is very likely to be a vehicle for a statutory pay-go measure that includes a number of exemptions for certain tax cuts and extending the “fix” on physician reimbursements under Medicare.
Read more, including updates on health care, the jobs bill, and debt ceiling negotiations on our discussion board at http://boards.communitysolutions.com/showthread.php?t=293
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