Isn't it time to contact Betty and disabuse her of this ideological fixation?

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by Elizabeth Stawicki, Minnesota Public Radio

March 9, 2010

St. Paul, Minn. — President Barack Obama is pushing Democrats to pass a health care bill in the next few weeks.

They'll have to use a budget process called reconciliation to revive legislation that stalled in January. Some critics view the process as an end-run around Republican opposition, but supporters note it's the same one the Bush Administration used to pass tax cuts.

The question is whether House Democrats will have enough votes to even get the process started. Minnesota's representatives will likely vote along party lines.

Twenty-five years ago Congress used the budget reconciliation process to pass COBRA, a law that allows workers to extend their health insurance after they leave their jobs. (In fact, that's what COBRA stands for -- Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.)

The multi-step process requires the House to pass the Senate version of health care reform first. Fourth District Democrat Rep. Betty McCollum said she will be on board.

"I plan on voting for the Senate bill to move the reconciliation process forward, which is a tool in the tool box," she said. "It's a statute and has been around since 1974."

McCollum said she doesn't expect Republicans to join her, but said Democrats will have enough votes to pass it