A congressional analyst says it will be very hard to obtain 60 votes in the Senate without controversial provisions taken out of the House healthcare bill.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) says "The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," and Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman has pledged to filibuster any version of the public health insurance option approved by the House. Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the Heritage Foundation, says although Graham is right to declare the House bill D.O.A., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) will be pushing hard to pass a more moderate version of "Obamacare" by the end of the year. "They're going to have to have a price tag in the bill that's under a trillion dollars for it to have a chance in the Senate. There are many moderate Democrats that just can't move forward on a bill that costs over a trillion dollars," Darling explains. "Many of the taxes that were put forth in the House, the millionaires' tax, are non-starters in the Senate. Paying for the bill is going to be difficult, too. They're going to have to find the right mix of taxes to allow it to pass in the Senate." Darling says the one issue the Senate is more liberal on is abortion. "That Stupak amendment that passed in the House, it doesn't appear that there are votes to attach a similar piece of legislation to bar federal funding of abortion in Obamacare in the Senate," the director notes. "So in that sense, it'll be more liberal, but on most of the other issues, this is going to be a package that's going to have to be more moderate because in the Senate, you need 60 votes." Darling predicts it will be "virtually impossible" for the Senate to pass a healthcare bill before Thanksgiving because there is so much of a right for extended debate in the Senate. Harry Reid has promised President Obama he will try to get something passed by Christmas.
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