Would Democrats Stall Scott Brown’s Swearing-In To Save Health Care?

Senate candidate Scott Brown (R-MA).
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If Republican Scott Brown pulls an upset and wins the Massachusetts special election on Jan. 19, Senate Democrats would lose their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority and health care would be all but doomed.

So some, including the Boston Herald, have suggested that Democrats might stall Brown’s swearing in until after the final vote on a revised health care bill.

The idea apparently comes from Brown himself. After Interim Sen. Paul Kirk said he would vote for health care reform if it comes to a vote before the new senator is sworn in, Brown fired off a statement claiming Kirk was “suggesting” that Democrats in Boston and Washington “intend to stall the election certification until the health care bill is rammed through Congress.”

But can they? Technically, it is up to Senate leadership when they swear in a new senator. But Senate Majority Harry Reid’s office says they’ll swear in the winner of the Massachusetts election — whether it’s Brown or Attorney General Martha Coakley — as soon as possible.

“When there is a certified winner in Massachusetts, the Senate has received appropriate papers, and the Vice President is available, the successor to Kennedy/Kirk will be sworn in,” a Reid spokesman told TPM.

The certification happens on the state level and, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts Secretary of State, will happen at least 10 days after the election and, at most, about 20 days.

The cities and towns must send their election results — including absentee, overseas and military ballots — to the secretary of state between 10 and 15 days after the election. Then, the governor’s council, a group of eight elected officials, votes to certify the election. Then the governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, signs it and sends it off to to the U.S. Senate.

The secretary of state’s spokesman, Brian McNiff, tells TPM that while the governor or his council — all Democrats — could stall the certification, it’s extremely unlikely.

“I would imagine something like that would go right to court,” McNiff said. “Politically, there’d be hell to pay.”

So the Senate should get the appropriate papers two or three weeks after the Jan. 19 election.

No one knows exactly when the health care bill will come back to the Senate for a vote.
House and Senate leaders must still confer with the White House to merge the two bills. Then, the merged bill will go to the House for a vote before coming to the Senate. That is, unless the House approves the Senate bill word-for-word, an unlikely but possible maneuver should Democrats lose their 60th vote.

In short: It’s still up in the air.

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