Even though I don't support Arlen Specter in the primary, he gets it about the Senate health bill, and he's supportive of a simultaneous fix and passing the Senate bill. David Waldman has pointed out how this can be done right here:
On that narrow question, I see events unfolding generally as follows:
1. The Congress passes the reconciliation bill, and the bill enters the enrollment process, but is not sent to the White House for signature -- meaning it does not yet become effective law.
2. The House agrees to the Senate version of HR 3590, and HR 3590 enters the enrollment process as well. At this stage we simply have two bills, neither of which is effective law. Although the purpose of the reconciliation bill is to amend HR 3590, the amendments are not effective until signed by the President, just as HR 3590 is not effective until signed (or until they have been on the President's desk for 10 days).
Here's more below the jump:
3. Next, HR 3590 is the first to emerge from the enrollment process (which can be ordered at the discretion of the Congressional leadership), and it is sent to the White House for signature. At that point, HR 3590 is effective law, but the reconciliation bill with the amendments in it is not yet law.
4. Finally, the reconciliation bill is sent to the White House for signature. Only after the President's signature is affixed (or 10 days elapses without his signature), the reconciliation bill and its amendments become effective law -- after the enactment of HR 3590, just as it should be.
Here's what Senator Arlen Specter said about doing a simultaneous fix on health care reform and passing the Senate bill with the fix in place:
Speaking at a Pennsylvania Progressive forum on Saturday, Specter suggested that the only way to get health care reform passed would be to placate House Democrats who were concerned about passing the Senate bill pro forma. The only way to placate House Democrats, he added, would be to pass amendments to the Senate's legislation "simultaneously" through the use of a process known as reconciliation.
"I believe we ought to pass comprehensive health care reform and we ought to do it now and there is a way to do it," Specter said. "I provided the 60th vote. We passed it in the Senate. Let the House accept it, simultaneously with a bill to make certain changes through reconciliation and 50 votes. There will be no disagreement about taking away the giveaway to Nebraska and Louisiana and the other inappropriate measures but let's move ahead and let's move ahead now."
He gets it, and it's the only way this Senate bill can be passed is by fixing it first. There are no votes in the House otherwise for the Senate bill due to politically poisonous provisions such as the excise tax, the Nebraska cornhusker kickback deal, and the Nelson abortion issue. I've also been hearing that the Stupak contingent in the House don't want to vote for the Senate bill because they prefer the ornerous Stupak amendment over the Nelson amendment. One way to placate these anti-choice Democrats would be to introduce a standalone bill that has the Stupak amendment, aimed at "fixing" the Nelson anti-choice amendment. I'm definitely not on board for that.
Now, for the "carrot" part here, please CALL Senator Specter's office at 202-224-4254 and thank him for standing up for reconciliation to fix the mess of this Senate bill.
PLEASE CALL SENATOR SPECTER'S OFFICE AT 202-224-4254 AND THANK HIM!
And please KEEP UP the push to fix the Senate bill first via reconciliation and then pass it! Call your Senator and your Representative if you can today! All it takes is just five minutes to pick up that phone, dial in the number, and CALL.
CALL YOUR DEMOCRATIC SENATOR AND TELL THEM TO FIX THE SENATE BILL FIRST VIA RECONCILIATION! PLEASE REPORT YOUR CALL HERE!
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL THEM TO PUSH FOR RECONCILIATION AND THEN PASS THE SENATE BILL! PLEASE REPORT YOUR CALL HERE!
Also, here are some important news that we all need to know about the jobs bill that is currently pending in the Senate. It's been hijacked by Senator Max Baucus who wants to water it down and weaken it further by cutting the spending to get jobs from $154 billion to a mere $80 billion. By reducing the spending, you get fewer jobs as a result. Now that's just wrong-headed thinking, and that's what we can't afford in this recession when so many Americans have lost jobs. Here's mcjoan on what the House jobs bill does:
The $154 billion jobs bill "would use $75 billion in money earmarked for the Wall Street bailout and redirect it to infrastructure investment and aid to states." It also extends the COBRA subsidey for an additional six months, as well as extending unemployment benefits and expanding a child tax credit, and provides additional spending for "shovel-ready" construction projects and money to avoid layoffs of teachers, police and other public employees.
House leadership did some pretty heavy lifting to get the necessary 217 votes on that bill, and just squeaked it through past the deficit peacocks. So when are we going to hear the clammering for the Senate to pass the House's bill? Ten percent unemployment is unacceptable, it's devestating to the country, and by the way, is contributing to the deficit in lost revenue from income taxes. The Senate needs to act quickly and pass the House bill.
COBRA subsidies in the House jobs bill might also be on the chopping block. It's been a lifesaving measure for millions of Americans who have lost their jobs. Cutting out these subsidies would put them at great risk, and they'd go without health insurance as a result. We have a list of Senate Democrats that want to pass the House jobs bill as it currently stands, and they don't want this important jobs bill to be hijacked by the likes of Max Baucus and watered down even further. This excerpt is from the letter they sent to Senator Max Baucus:
We urge quick action on the extension of the unemployment insurance provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through December 31, 2010, including the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program, full federal funding of the Extended Benefit program, an increase of $25 per week in state and federal benefits, and the suspension of the federal income tax on an individual’s first $2,400 of unemployment benefits. In addition, we must also extend the eligibility period of the COBRA Premium Assistance Program through December 31, 2010.
Due to the importance of these issues, we respectfully request a meeting with you to discuss how we can provide for an extension of both programs. We thank you for your consideration of our request. All of our offices are committed to ensuring our constituents are able to properly provide for their families during this difficult time.
Here's the list of Democratic Senators on that letter:
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Edward E. Kaufman (D-DE)
Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Roland W. Burris (D-IL)
John F. Kerry (D-MA)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Al Franken (D-MN)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Arlen Specter (D-PA)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Please CALL their offices and thank them for standing up for the American people who need jobs right now! And who's missing from that list that we need to call?
Max Baucus
Evan Bayh
Mark Begich
Jeff Bingaman
Maria Cantwell
Thomas Carper
Kent Conrad
Byron Dorgan
Russell Feingold
Kay Hagan
Daniel Inouye
Tim Johnson
Paul G. Kirk
Amy Klobuchar
Mary Landrieu
Blanche Lincoln
Claire McCaskill
Patty Murray
Ben Nelson
Bill Nelson
Mark Pryor
Harry Reid
Charles Schumer
Jon Tester
Mark Udall
Mark Warner
Jim Webb
PLEASE CALL THESE SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO SUPPORT THE HOUSE JOBS BILL AS IT CURRENTLY STANDS
Here are my suggested talking points for the calls you make:
Please support the House jobs bill that helps create jobs, saves COBRA subsidies for those who have been laid off, and uses $75 billion of the money earmarked for the Wall Street bailout for Main Street instead. Don't weaken this jobs bill, or cut it down to $80 billion dollars. If you cut it down, that creates fewer jobs for us.
PLEASE REPORT YOUR CALL TO THESE SENATORS RIGHT HERE!
I've also formed a Facebook group called "We NEED Jobs Now!" Please join this group so we can fight together for the best jobs bill and our fight begins today to help save the House jobs bill. We can't afford the further hijacking of this process by conservative Democratic Senators and Republicans.
You can also follow me on Twitter @slinkerwink.
UPDATE: Eve will be at the free clinic event in Hartford, Connecticut, tomorrow. Please stay tuned for news coming out of that health clinic!
UPDATE 2: Campaign For America's Future is also running a massive e-mail campaign to put pressure on the Senate to pass the jobs bill! I've just put my name onto the e-mail campaign, and hope you'll do the same as well.