Franken Lays Out 'Pledge And Pass' Strategy For Health Care

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn) called on Friday for Senate Democrats to commit to passing amendments to its health care legislation through the process of reconciliation -- so that the House can then pass legislation of its own.

In a call organized by the pro-reform group Health Care for America Now, the Minnesota Democrat laid out what he called a "pledge and pass" strategy for getting a bill into law.

"If we in the Senate pledge to fix those top priorities right away through reconciliation... the House of Representatives should pass the Senate bill. The exact details of this process need to be worked out by the leadership and the president."

Franken also tried to alleviate some of the concerns of those who argue that the Senate legislation -- even with reconciliation fixes -- doesn't go far enough.

"Like it or not, the reality is that big pieces of legislation often need to be fixed after passage," he said. "Health care is a historic undertaking and this is no different. I think we have to stop letting the perfect -- and everyone has different definitions of perfect -- we have to stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good... Walking away empty-handed to me is just not an option."

In offering his preferred procedural remedy for health care's impasse, Franken echoed a emerging sentiment within the Democratic caucus. Sens. Arlen Specter (Penn), Max Baucus (Mont.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) Kent Conrad (ND), Jeff Bingaman (NM), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and others have all either endorsed or openly considered the idea of using reconciliation to change their bill.

There were some crossed messages on the call -- the person who preceded Franken, HCAN National Campaign Manager Richard Kirsch, advocated a slightly different legislative strategy for congressional Democrats.

As Kirsch sees it, the Senate would have to make reconciliation changes to its legislation first before the House would then vote on the entire package.

"A bill can be passed without having to have these 60 votes. The whole 60 votes [thing] is crazy. There is nothing in the constitution about 60 votes," said Kirsch. "Through [budget reconciliation], a lot of what's in that final compromise can still be passed. That would mean that both the Senate and House will pass a budget reconciliation bill and then the House will pass the Senate bill."

"It is totally a matter of political will," Kirsch added. "It is not a matter of procedure. It is up to the Democrats to exercise their political will... and it up to us to help provide the energy behind that."

Comments

[katmeyster]

02:37 PM on 02/10/2010

Good job, Al. Please keep up the good work.

By the way, HuffPost isn't much fun anymore -- it used to be a decent discussion between differences on the left and now the righty-spamyees feel they have to chime in. Go find your own forum to spew your garbage.

[whyworry]

01:27 PM on 02/08/2010

Get it done and that's final. The 60 vote BS is just that BS!

[Chise67]

11:16 AM on 02/08/2010

Something tells me Mr. Franken will have a very long & prosperous political career should he choose to. From a comedian to one of the most serious Democrats in congress, who'd of thought it?

[carl99e]

12:34 PM on 02/18/2010

I must agree with you. I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful career in the Senate. I believe he will be considered a "man of the people." Rare indeed.

[Matt Nisenoff]

10:28 AM on 02/08/2010

Al Franken is great. He is a true patriot and I agree with him.

[blacktea]

09:49 AM on 02/08/2010

Your bad Minnesota.

[jerryatthebeach]

07:22 AM on 02/08/2010

I guess that is your right considering 88% of the American people don't want it. In politics, its called stepping off of a chair....

[MerryW]

12:51 PM on 02/07/2010

Thank you Al for keeping forward momentum. Thank you Bob for posting good news. The Public Option may have to come about by this ammendment method BUT what has happened to getting what the voters want UP FRONT. This is sad but not new. Al knows that and is pushing the ball forward...better that than to loose the "game."

[ersf]

12:42 PM on 02/07/2010

Notice to Dems: let's get moving and show some spine. Without it the November elections look dismal. With it you might have a fighting chance. Reconciliation will mobilize our troops to stand up against the GOP faux tea bag campaigns they will try to wage against us no matter if Health Care passes or not. So, do it.

[James Leo]

12:36 PM on 02/07/2010

If we had more leaders like Franken and Sanders in the Senate, we would be in a better place.
Its not even about politics. I remember two powerful progressives Paul Wellstone and Eugene McCarthy
both had the respect of conservative voters in their states because they were consistent and stood for something and never took their electorate for granted.
Having said that:, I believe Franken is wrong for playing blame on the whitehouse for the current quagmires. The senate is equally culpable

[fairplaystacy]

10:42 AM on 02/07/2010

Obama 2.0 with anti-dithering upgrades - experience fewer system crashes.

[fairplaystacy]

10:40 AM on 02/07/2010

Brilliant - ladies and gentlemen, we have our next President in the bag.

Obama 2.0

[jerryatthebeach]

07:58 AM on 02/07/2010

Still sounds too socialist, we should have a National Election over such an important issue.

[Tom Harrison]

09:43 AM on 02/07/2010

We did have a national election over such an important issue. Obama and the Democrats won promising national healthcare.

[carl99e]

12:36 PM on 02/18/2010

Here Here

[LatteLiberals]

09:43 AM on 02/07/2010

Stop with the silly socialism comments already. Sheesh.

[toggan]

06:44 AM on 02/07/2010

Al Franken, I've always thought you are an intelligent man and you keep on reaffirming this. I am so glad you are senator. I believe you can really make a difference.

[humpfree]

01:09 AM on 02/07/2010

Fifty percent of voters (give or take depending on which poll you'd like to believe) don't want anything to do with this version of reform. It will clearly cost some who are currently insured more than they're already paying. The cost of health services and prescriptions remains unaddressed. There are enough Dems who realize this and won't put their longevity on the line by voting yea on recon passage. Franken's scheme won't work.

A brand new bill that would control costs instead of spreading them around might change public sentiment. Then we'd have a chance.

When I was a kid I tried spreading my peas all over my plate in a futile effort to convince Mom I ate most of them. She didn't buy it. The authors of current reform are collectively the kid. The issues allegedly being tackled by these reform measures are the peas. The voters are the parents. They're not buying it.

[Sundalecat]

02:24 AM on 02/07/2010

Jam a public option in on Reconsiliation. They will love that. When their costs go down. The Democrats will be reelected. 38% is the number for Blue Cross on their increases.

[humpfree]

02:33 AM on 02/07/2010

The increase in the cost of coverage is a direct result of increased utilization and the skyrocketing cost of health services. IOW current reform props will do absolutely nothing to slow the trend. Check me on this. I guarantee it.

[cmoon70]

12:15 AM on 02/07/2010

"Pledge and Pass" Ya, because politicians always live up to their pledges. Right?