It’s not a good sign that, less than an hour into this health care summit, they are already arguing about process–and, specifically, the use of reconciliation to pass this bill on a majority vote in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes that it would take to stop a filibuster.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered what, for my money, is the best sound bite of the first hour (and one you are likely to be hearing a lot in the coming weeks): “Those people sitting at that kitchen table, they don’t want to hear about process. They want to hear about results.”
Meanwhile, Lamar Alexander–leading off for the Republicans–once again asserted that Congress is simply not capable of passing comprehensive reform.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think the parameters of this conversation have now been defined.