With President Obama and the Democrats willing to use the reconciliation process in an attempt to by-pass their loss of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the focus is now on the House of Representatives. Despite optimistic stories in the press and Nancy Pelosi’s braggadocio, getting the House to pass the Senate bill in advance of reconciliation is going to be a steep and hopefully impossible mountain to climb. As Jeffrey Anderson writes in the Weekly Standard, nine Democrats who supposedly are considering switching their former “no” votes to “yes” have some awfully good reasons not to do so. And further:
An even bigger problem for the Democrats than somehow turning these members around is the strong likelihood that many other members are salivating at the thought of switching their votes to “no” and saving their careers. Clark Judge writes, “‘Blue Dogs want health care to come up again,'” said a long-time veteran of the House in a closed door briefing last Monday. ‘So they can vote against it.'”