Will House Democrats Take the Bait?

"The White House may renege on passing fixes to the Senate's healthcare bill once the House has passed it, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) claimed Thursday.

"'They're using reconciliation to pass the great big bill,' Gregg said during an appearance on CNBC. 'Once they pass the great big bill, I wouldn't be surprised if the White House didn't care if reconciliation passed. I mean, why would they?'"

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"Bait and switch, baby. It’s not like the unsuspecting and unprepared Democrats haven’t already seen plenty of that already.

"'The plan, as it comes from the Senate, hangs out every Democrat who’s running for office to dry...'"

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"The focus on reconciliation in the past few days confuses things a bit. The question in the health-care debate at the moment is whether Nancy Pelosi can get enough of her members to vote for the version of Obamacare that passed the Senate late last year...

"Some liberal House Democrats have problems with that bill — especially with some of its tax provisions, though also a few other things...

"But that amending bill wouldn’t change the basic character of what would be enacted (and to the extent it would change it at the edges, it would be mostly for the worse): Either way, if the House passes the Senate bill then Obamacare would become law..."

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"House members would be left holding the bag. Target squarely on their chests, they would now get to face their fuming constituents after having passed a $2.5 trillion bill that would allow public funding of abortion, would send $100 million to Nebraska, $300 million to Louisiana, $100 million to Connecticut, would exempt South Florida's Medicare Advantage enrollees from annual $2,100 cuts in Medicare Advantage benefits, would raise taxes, raise deficits, raise health costs, empower Washington, reduce liberty, politicize medicine, and jeopardize the quality of health care. Most of all, they would feel the citizenry's wrath for having voted to pass a bill that only 25 percent of Americans support.

"Right now, the House holds all the power over ObamaCare."

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"It should be noted, the possibility remains the House could pass the Senate bill at any point this year including in a lame duck session between the midterms and the opening of a new Congress. The Senate bill remains live until this session closes in December so the possibility exists that the Senate bill could be signed into law at any point this year."