Senate Republicans have released a statement suggesting that the health care reform bill is in trouble in the Senate, apparently to scare off some wavering Dems ahead of the House vote.
The Republicans claim the Democrats refuse to schedule a meeting with them and the parliamentarian to review the health care bill before it’s taken up in the Senate, though according to the Senate Democrats, the Republicans refused to attend a meeting they had already scheduled.
Senate Republicans say they have been trying to meet with Senate Democrats and the parliamentarian to discuss provisions they believe violate the “Byrd Rule.”
The Republicans claim that they “have been trying to set up a meeting with Senate Democrats since yesterday to discuss this fatal point of order but have been met with nothing but silence,” according to a statement by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) spokesman Don Stewart.
“We suspect Democrats are slow walking us so as to have the House vote first,” he said.
Since Senate Democrats refuse to meet with us and the parliamentarian, we’ve informed our colleagues in the House that we believe the bill they’re now considering violates the clear language of Section 310g of the Congressional Budget Act, and the entire reconciliation bill is subject to a point of order and rejection in the Senate should it pass the House.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) picked up this line in his own statement, saying “Senate Democrats are mysteriously unavailable until after the House votes on the health care bill tonight.”
He continued:
The Senate Democrats appear to be pushing off this meeting so that House Democrats will remain in the dark about what is likely to happen to the reconciliation bill on which many have staked their careers in Congress. House Democrats should be alarmed by this latest development, since the survival of the reconciliation bill is clearly at risk in the Senate.
Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) spokesman Jim Manley told Politico that this accusation is “the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard,” adding that House Democrats “had a meeting scheduled with the parliamentarian on Friday, which they boycotted, I believe because we did not have a final language.
Republicans then suggested late last night that we meet first thing this morning. Why? Because, as they have done repeatedly in the past, the purpose was try and spook the House before the final vote. Same strategy as before. And like before they have nothing from the parliamentarian to support their claims. Whether we met or not they were going to say the same thing.
Manley added: “It’s a cynical strategy, albeit a highly misleading one.”
