Quote of the Day: Mark Pryor on reconciliation and health-care reform

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Hill quotes the Arkansas Democrat:

I haven't seen all the details of what the president's trying to do with reconciliation, and it's not my first choice. But under the circumstances, it may be the only way to pass legislation around here... It's not my preference. But we have reconciliation. It's in the rules. We can do it if we want to. My preference would be to have a big, bipartisan agreement, but in today's environment it's hard to do that.

I don't really have much to add.

Of course it's not anyone's "first choice."

Of course it's not anyone's "preference."

Of course it's "hard" to pass bipartisan legislation."

Of course it's "the only way," what with Republicans behaving like the obstructionist extremists they are.

But let us note again, just to be clear, that no one is talking about passing the entirety of the reform package through reconciliation. And why? Because both the House and Senate have already passed legislation.

Now it's just a matter of using reconciliation to pass improvements, or patches, to the Senate bill (assuming, that is, that the House passes the Senate bill).

At least Pryor, who's one of the more conservative Democrats in the Senate, seems to get what needs to be done.

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The same cannot be said of thankfully-soon-to-be-retiring Evan Bayh of Indiana, a fellow centrist Democrat, who said yesterday, presumably with a straight face, that reconciliation would take the Senate into "uncharted waters," as if it's never been used before. Is he really that stupid, and that ignorant? Does he not remember what Republicans did when Bush was president, not so very many years ago? Does he have absolutely no grasp of even recent Senate history? It's like he's intentionally trying to subvert Democratic efforts, that is, the efforts of the majority party, his party, to pass meaningful health-care reform.

But what else is new?