The Health Care Bill and ?Reconciliation’

There has been much talk about another final push to pass the Democrats’ government takeover of our health care system.  A lot of the more recent discussion has revolved around a procedural maneuver in the Senate called “reconciliation” that would allow the next bill to pass with only 51 votes as opposed to the 60 that were needed for the first bill.  A lot of ink has been spilled over what can be done to stop the reconciliation process.

I just want to clarify a point here.

Before the reconciliation process could begin, the House of Representatives would have to pass the Senate version of the health care bill with its taxpayer funded abortions and a $871 billion price tag (though in reality much higher.) Once passed, the President would sign it and it would become law.  Only then could the Democrats begin to make changes via a separate reconciliation bill that would change parts of the bill that Members found objectionable.  There would be no guarantee that these changes would become law and many supporters of the Democrats’ healthcare takeover would prefer that those changes are never made.  The Wall Street Journal made this point yesterday.