The New Health Dialogue

We don’t write all that much about Congressional process – and when we started to write about process yesterday, we immediately remembered why we don’t write about process. But during this past year we’ve read a lot of other people’s opinions on process. And as frustrating as process can be to those who understand it, it’s probably unbearably aggravating to those who don’t. So a few quick thoughts:

1. If Senate Democrats could have passed health reform (including a public plan) with a nice, simple 51-vote majority through reconciliation, don’t you think they would have?
2. It is not unusual for one or two senators  to hold up a bill (or block a nomination) until they get what they want. Maybe not quite as blatantly and visibly  as the Ben Nelson/Joe Lieberman role in health reform, but it happens, often, over provisions big and small, publicly and not so publicly.
3. Compromise is in the eyes of the beholder. To some it’s a sell-out. To others, it’s an art. Compromise (and its big sister deal-making) is how coalitions are built. And coalitions are what gets legislation passed.
4. Getting rid of the filibuster may or may not be a good idea– but it won’t erase partisanship, or avoid other forms of parliamentary guerrilla warfare that can still slow down or thwart legislation. It could even lead to a situation where programs are more likely to be gutted or repealed when another party takes over. The increasingly routine use of the 60-vote threshold  is a reflection of partisanship, not the cause of it.
5. Final versions of  big complicated bills (and read our December interview with Senate historian Don Ritchie on the history of the filibuster and why bills keep getting bigger and more complicated) seldom get worked out in conferences – let alone formal public conferences. They get worked out behind closed doors – often in leadership offices or with congressional leaders (and White House officials) playing a big role. This is why reporters spend unbelievable numbers of hours standing (sitting isn’t allowed) in hallways staking out leadership meetings and caucuses.

None of this is meant to defend the process,  just to describe it.  People who are deeply invested in the health care debate, who may not have delved so deeply into the sausage-making in the past, need to understand that all these things are not unique to health care. They are process. And process is definitely not perfect.