Thursday, January 7, 2010

Democrats hoping to ‘ping-pong’ Republicans right out of final health care reform negotiations - Yahoo! News

Democrats hoping to ‘ping-pong’ Republicans right out of final health care reform negotiations - Yahoo! News: "Now that the House and Senate have both passed separate health care reform bills, the legislative process shifts to ironing out the differences. This typically involves having a formal conference committee containing members of both the House and the Senate. The goal is to reconcile the two bills, creating a final bill that both chambers will vote on. In a surprise turn, according to Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic, Democrats intend to employ an obscure tactic, informally known as 'ping-pong,' to shut Republicans out of the final negotiations and speed the bills toward completion. In 'ping-pong' the legislation is bounced back and forth between the House and the Senate, controlled by just the Democratic leadership in each chamber and the White House, until a final agreement can be reached.

It's 'almost certain,' according to a pair of senior congressional staffers Cohn spoke to, that the Democratic leadership will seek to avoid a formal conference committee and its procedural steps. The formal process and additional votes would have offered multiple additional opportunities for the Republicans to slow or obstruct the bill's process, as they did throughout the fall."

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