Time to nuke the Republican party

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/22/healthcare-obama-reconciliation-congress


* Steven Guess
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 22 August 2009 13.00 BST

Republicans don't want to pass real healthcare reform – so Democrats should push the button on the 'nuclear option'

Barack Obama's opponents view defeating healthcare reform as their ticket to recapturing power, with one Republican Senator infamously declaring that it would be the president's "Waterloo". Efforts by Republicans to feign interest in real reform by seeking to slow the progress of the bill or start over are nothing more than thinly veiled efforts to undermine the scope of reform and preserve the status quo. As a result of this increasingly polarised political landscape, Democrats are now signalling that they may pass part of the healthcare bill without Republican support by splitting the bill into two more manageable pieces.

The first part would include insurance reform and could be passed with broader approval. The second, more controversial bill would involve substantive reform and may include a government-run "public option" or nonprofit cooperative that would compete with private insurers. Passing the more contentious part of reform would require using a budget device called "reconciliation" that would enable the bill to pass by simple majority rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.