Health Care Summit Underscores Legislative Challenges

Democrats and Republicans spent the better part of yesterday engaged in a political sumo wrestling match as both parties tried to gain ground in the health care debate during an all-day summit held at Blair House. Despite seven hours of back and forth between the two parties, however, the meeting quickly devolved into sound and fury signifying nothing. The marathon political session highlighted the fundamental differences in opinion between supporters and opponents of health care reform, with both sides taking the time to trot out the same talking points that have dominated the debate since the administration first proposed his plan oh so many months ago.

At heart, the Republicans want to scrap the current plan entirely and start from scratch, this time focused on controlling health care costs themselves. Democrats, meanwhile, said that it’s too late to go back, with President Obama himself saying that the country can’t deal with another year-long debate. In the end, little ground was gained, or lost, by either side.

Upon the summit’s conclusion, Democrats began intimating that they might seek to bypass Republican opposition altogether and use their still-sizeable-but-not-quite-super majority to force a reconciliation, a little-used parliamentary procedure that allows the Senate to pass bills without the threat filibuster. However, fears of a political backlash may give lawmakers pause before pursuing this option, especially as House and Senate campaigns start heating up.