Former DNC chair Howard Dean is pleased as punch with the message coming out of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office.
In response to the news that Reid might carve up health care reform legislation and pass pieces through the budget reconciliation process, Dean tells TPMDC “I obviously think reconciliation is a great idea.”
“I don’t believe in obstructionism, which is what the Republicans are doing,” he says.
On the point of obstructionism Dean isn’t deaf to the political problems reconciliation might cause. He acknowledges that “the GOP might be so incensed by the use of reconciliation” that they’d tie up the Senate with procedural issues. Of course, the Republicans didn’t have any problem with jamming controversial measures through the reconciliation process when they controlled things under President Bush.
Nonetheless, Dean thinks the threat is “a reminder about the ability of the majority leader that he has the authority to use reconciliation and that this can’t go on forever…. He’s making a very clear statement that we’re going to have a health care bill one way or another.”
Deans statements come on the heels of the thoughts of another Vermont reform advocate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). On Wednesday night, he told Rachel Maddow, “I think what you can do is you can be dealing with insurance reform.”
“[T]here`s a lot that you can do quickly which I think should have the support of the vast majority of the American people, he said. “[A]nd we can tackle some of the harder issues a few months down the line.”
