The Republican win in Massachusetts on Tuesday shook up the Senate.
Republican (and Lt. Gov.) Brian Krolicki is now suggesting he might enter
the state race. Should Harry Reid (or the Republican candidates) be
worried? How else did Massachusetts shake things up? Jon Ralston joins us
to talk about how the political landscape changed this week.
Also, the Supreme Court turned the rules of campaign finance on their head
yesterday. Now corporations and unions have the green light to give. Where
will we see money coming from in Nevada? Political consultants Dan Hart and
Chuck Muth find out how this changes the Senate races.
I just wanted to chime in on today's topic. I think a lot of folks are
giving Scott Brown too much credit as the reform-buster. All Brown
really does is prevent a new version of the Bill from the House/Senate
conference from passing the Senate again. But it doesn't need to
happen that way. Many are pushing for the House to simply vote on the
as-is version of the Bill that was passed by the Senate. If that
happens, then the Senate doesn't need to re-vote on the Bill since
they already did.
Now, the real present issue is the House Conservative Democrats, led
by Bart Stupak of Michigan. He claims to have 10-11 other Democrats in
his camp that previously voted for the original House version of the
Bill, that will vote against the Senate Bill since the Senate removed
Stupak's earlier strong restrictions on abortion. So, it's his small
group that now stands in the way.
Other issues in the House include opposition to the Senate-added
Cadillac Tax (opposed by many union leaders) and removal of the public
option.
But if Democratic leaders really want this to pass, it can be done by
winning over wavering Hose Democrats by promising to pass a sidecar
reconciliation bill (a second bill) that fixes the Cadillac tax
language, includes the public option, etc. A reconciliation Bill would
have to pass both chambers, but in the Senate it would be immune to a
filibuster - thus avoiding the public option opposition of Brown,
Lieberman, Lincoln, Baucus, and Nelson.
George –Jan 22, 2010 10:04:40 AM
