More Of That Pesky Cause And Effect Stuff Which Should Not Apply To Senate Republicans

So after a good five solid months of negotiating in bad faith with Democrats over health care reform, Senate Republicans now expect Democrats to give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them to come to the table to hammer out this historic legislation.

Republicans Monday had new hope that they could influence health care deliberations — influence that's so far eluded them — as the debate moves to the Senate, where the rules and the politics can work to their advantage.

Some Republicans are trying to win Democratic support for more help for small business, different medical malpractice policies and changes in how the health care overhaul would be funded.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of three GOP senators to vote for the Democratic-authored economic stimulus plan earlier this year, said moderates from both parties are discussing potential areas of agreement.

The odds are still long, and probably insurmountable, against the Senate's 40 Republicans having significant input into the biggest decisions, notably mandates on employers and individuals and the plan's funding. They continue to complain that, as Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., put it, the bill "is being drafted behind closed doors."

Democrats control 60 of the 100 Senate seats, but as many as 12 moderate Democrats have expressed serious concerns about the package's cost, now estimated at $829 billion over 10 years, as well as about the government-run insurance plan, or public option.

It takes 60 votes to cut off debate and move to a vote, and Democrats probably will need GOP help on certain parts of the bill. Full Senate consideration could begin later this month.

Collins was optimistic about the GOP role, saying, "I believe we can put together a bipartisan bill that could cover so many areas where there's agreement on what should be done."

Just to recap, Senate Republicans stated publicly on several occasions that they should be in charge of the bill, wanted to make complete reworks of the bill several times to remove many of the key provisions that didn't benefit insurance companies, stormed off like children, proclaimed they couldn't work with the Democratic majority and pronounced the bill dead several times. The Senate Republicans in charge of the negotiations on the Senate Finance Committee said multiple times that the rest of the Senate would never allow them to compromise on their demands, ever. They walked away from the process time and time again when they didn't get what they wanted in the Senate Finance Committee. They accused Democrats of trying to destroy America with this legislation. They vowed never to vote for it and that it would never pass the full Senate, in fact they vowed it would never even get a vote unless the bill contained all the key provisions that the GOP demanded in the bill.

Democrats told them to go to hell and passed the bill out of committee anyway. Only one Republican, Olympia Snowe of Maine, voted for it. The other Republicans vowed to fight it.

Now they are saying that they expect to have significant influence over a bipartisan final bill.

Really?

That has to be the largest mass delusion in the history of humanity. Republicans are out of their minds, literally. But here's the kind of bipartisanship that the GOP is expecting:

Already, there've been signs of bipartisanship. When a public option plan similar to the one the House passed on Saturday came up in the Senate Finance Committee earlier this year, Democrats joined Republicans to defeat it.

To the surprise of Senate Democratic leaders, the committee approved a plan by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to provide $50 million annually through fiscal 2014 for abstinence education. Two moderate Democrats, Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln and North Dakota's Kent Conrad, voted with all 10 Republicans on the panel to approve the funds.

Once full Senate debate begins, it's expected to last at least a month and feature votes on almost every controversial aspect of the bill.

Ahh, Senate Republicans and ConservaDems, working together to make the bill as weak and feckless as possible.

That's bipartisan!

[UPDATE 10:12 AM] Brian Beutler at TPMDC goes over the key Senate ConservaDems, what they want from Obamacare, and what they will likely get. The bottom line is that there will be no public option, no abortion coverage in exchange eligible health plans, and significant cuts in subsidies for ordinary Americans to help make health care affordable in order to pay for increases in subsidies for medical equipment makers and insurance companies instead.

Who needs Republicans?