Some Sort Of Progress

The Republicans at least understand that sidecar reconciliation is the only way forward for the Dems on health care reform, and they are already planning to do everything they can to stop it.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has said that Republicans "would make it an extraordinarily difficult exercise" if Democrats try to make changes to the Senate health care reform bill through reconciliation.

According to the New York Times, Gregg said that using reconciliation "would be a very hard lift" for the Democrats.

It's crazy.  The Democrats are still fiddlefarting around.

But as the days drag on, one reality becomes more and more certain: Until leaders reach an understanding that will allow the House to move ahead with a guarantee that the Senate bill will be amended, they will be unable to press rank and file members to support the end game they're working toward.

In the meantime, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and senior Democrats must hear their members who are of differing mindsets on how to proceed. According to Rep. John Dingell, "What you're seeing now is Chairman Mao's 'let a thousand flowers bloom'." Hill sources tell TPMDC that leaders will continue to work toward a grand bargain: House and Senate leaders will huddle today at 4 p.m., House Democratic leadership will meet at 5 p.m. and then House leadership will hold a caucus meeting with rank-and-file members at 7 p.m.

The goal of the caucus meeting is to get a sense of where members stand after spending three days sounding out constituents. Nothing is certain; rank-and-file Democrats are all over the map with some members opposing comprehensive reform outright, and others resistant to passing the Senate bill and having lost faith that the Senate will be able to pass a separate bill.

A House leadership aide tells TPMDC that members will be presented with "three ways forward and that's it. And none of them are really that good."

And it's all thanks to the Dems in the middle that killed the good ways to move forward when the Dems had 60 votes.