Most observers–including the White House–consider the bipartisan Gang of Six health care discussions in the Senate Finance Committee to be a lost cause. But nonetheless, the group still plans to meet today to take stock of the (many) developments that have transpired in the two weeks since they last spoke two weeks ago.
Just yesterday, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) released a statement insisting his voice was still relevant to the health care debate. But he also said he expects health care reform to fail, and he recently affirmed the validity of the false “death panel” smear, which dogged the cause of health care reform for much of August.
Assuming the group dissolves–or that Democratic leaders take control of health care legislation out of its hands–the Democrats will have to either win over Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and pass health care reform on her terms (which would likely mean putting the public option on a “trigger”) or they’ll have pass what reforms they can via the budget reconciliation process, which involves different procedural hurdles, but which, crucially, can’t be filibustered.