What Could Still Go Wrong

TPM's Christina Bellatoni warns that plenty of things could still derail health care this week.  We're still talking about the Dems in Congress, after all.

Signs point to a done deal, and the White House says health care reform will soon be the law of the land. But the Democrats are, well, Democrats. The long slog toward passing a final health care bill has been met with potholes and partisan shenanigans. Deadlines came and went.

Confident Democratic leaders say they are nearing the end, and Republicans are resigned to the idea that the bill will pass and that their focus will soon turn toward campaigning against it. But that's not to say it's over yet. From gambling on a favorable ruling from the Senate parliamentarian to last-ditch messaging successes on the Republican side that gums up the expected House vote, there are plenty of potential pitfalls. We've given it some thought, and while these things are unlikely, here are the top five things that could go wrong between now and President Obama penning his signature on a health care bill.

I posed the question to several members today on Capitol Hill, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) summed it up. I asked, "Could something go wrong in the next week?" Blumenauer lauged: "This is Congress. You answered your own question."

Those five things are failing the vote in the House, failing the vote in the Senate, the parliamentary stuff goes haywire, the student loan fix goes sour, or something completely unexpected happens.  Any one of those will basically kill the process.

It's amazing it has gotten this far.  Do read up.  It's not a done deal yet, by far.