Steve Benen in the Washington Monthly has the basics on the intensely partisan politics of the reconciliation process.
Update: Benen adds to the post above, via NBC’s Chuck Todd. Health care reform has already passed the Senate with 60 votes; reconciliation is about a few budget-related amendments. Anyone ignoring that fact is missing the major part of the story.
In a single story, Kaiser Health News summarizes and links to initial coverage of the Blair House HCR summit by the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NPR, Poliltico and ABC News.
The takeaway from the event seems to be that the Democratic Congressional leadership will double down on the Obama/Senate bill via the reconciliation route without the public option.
Matthew Yglesias notes that The Economist is guilty of execrable reporting of late.
Economist: If Only Obama Had Done Things He’s Actually Done, Things Might Be Different
Chart of the Day
Via Jeff Weintraub, why moving forward on health insurance reform looks like a political winner for the President.
And over at the New England Journal of Medicine, Brookings scholar Henry Aaron makes a compelling case for the reconciliation route. His conclusion:
Reformers’ best choice is to embrace the democratic process and attempt to persuade voters that the current legislation is in the national interest. They have 10 months to succeed before the midterm elections. If would-be reformers retreat in the face of current public opinion polls, they will be sent packing in November. Arguably, they will deserve to lose. If they stand up for their genuinely constructive legislation, they can prevail — and will deserve to win.
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