She reiterated that the Senate will have to move the reconciliation sidecar to the bill first, that she has heard from the majority of her caucus that they are "not going to vote for that [the Senate] bill" unless the Senate acts on the reconciliation fix first. She stressed how many of the House caucus came to Congress on the issue of healthcare reform, and how long they have worked on it, and said that until basic issues of fairness, state equity, and affordability for the middle class were addressed, the House won’t vote on the Senate bill.<\/p>\n Don’t even ask us to consider passing the Senate bill until the other legislation has passed both houses so that we’re sure that it has happened, and that we know that what we would be voting for would be as effected by a reconciliation bill or whatever parliamentary initiative they have at their disposable. <\/p>\n Beyond the issues of affordabilty and state equity (getting rid of the Nebraska deal), fixing the excise tax, and closing the \u201cdonut hole\u201d in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage for seniorsm [sic] Pelosi wouldn’t detail the issues that would likely be included under reconciliation, deferring basicaly [sic] to what Senate leadership thought it could do. When asked whether the public option would be included, she reiterated her support for it, as well as the House’s, but again deferred to what the Senate would be able to pass<\/strong>. She did say that she had heard from more than one Senator that wanted the House to include either a single payer or public option, but was not optimistic.<\/p>\n There was talk that there would be 51 votes for it, but it never passed on the floor of the Senate. It did pass in the House and, of course, I think it would be the way to go. But it isn’t the way that the Senate went. And so I think that what you might see coming out of some reconciliation would be those areas of agreement that all three–the White House, the Senate and the House–had already agreed to…more than two weeks ago. <\/p>\n Despite that assessement, Daily Kos readers got a hint that there might even be life left in the public option on the Senate side in reconciliation from Chuck Schumer yesterday. In a comment responding to a question from nyceve in his diary, Schumer said he has "always believed that there are 51 votes for the public option<\/strong>. Getting to 60 was the real challenge. We’re now reviewing all of our options and reconciliation is certainly one of them." With now <\/span>more than 100 House Dems<\/a> urging Reid to include the public option in that package, there might still be life in it.<\/span><\/p>\n The "new" news in the call was that the House "will pass" a repeal of insurance companies anti-trust exemption next week. Whether that certainy is coming from an actual whip count or her optimism is unclear, but it’s pretty unlikely more than a few House Dems would actually vote against this popular political step. The Senate prospects for taking up this bill are unclear, given how long it takes them to do anything, but pressure from the House moving pieces of this reform forward could help ease that logjam\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Inserted from <Daily Kos<\/a>><\/p>\n I can\u2019t blame Pelosi for hesitating. All the while that the House has been legislating, the Nevada Leg Hound, Harry Reid, was humping GOP and Blue Dog legs and producing a thoroughly flawed product.<\/p>\n Obama supports this approach as well.<\/p>\n![\"pelosi\"](\"http:\/\/s217.photobucket.com\/albums\/cc83\/TomCat1948or2\/Blog%202010\/J-M\/242010TheLatestonHealthCareReform_2271\/pelosi.jpg\" "\\"pelosi\\"")
<\/a> In a call with progressive media yesterday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated her determination, in no uncertain terms, to keep pushing to pass comprehensive healthcare reform. (Crooks and Liars has the <\/span>audio<\/a>.) Pelosi referred to healthcare reform as "first among equals" in Democratic initiatives to create jobs, stressing that it’s a major competiveness issue for the United States, and that our current system hampers job growth and entrepreneurship.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"obama8\"](\"http:\/\/s217.photobucket.com\/albums\/cc83\/TomCat1948or2\/Blog%202010\/J-M\/242010TheLatestonHealthCareReform_2271\/obama8_thumb.jpg\" "\\"obama8\\"")
<\/a> White House aides have privately told Dem Congressional aides that the White House supports the House passing the Senate health reform bill with a reconciliation fix, something that could give a bit more momentum to that approach, according to two Congressional staffers familiar with the discussions.<\/font><\/p>\n