House Majority Leader says Senate health bill is better than no legislation

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Hoyer: Senate health bill better than nothing

WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says the Senate health care bill is better than Congress failing to deliver on President Barack Obama’s top domestic initiative.

The Maryland Democrat told reporters Tuesday: “The Senate bill clearly is better than nothing.”

He declined to say whether the House could pass the Senate bill, one possible way lawmakers might proceed if Democrats lose the Massachusetts Senate election Tuesday. The seat represents the 60th vote for health care in the Senate.

Hoyer said negotiators still hadn’t resolved all of the outstanding issues to finalizing a bill.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats prepared for the worst and hoped for the best Tuesday, as the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul hung on the outcome of a Massachusetts election that was too close to call.

If Republican state Sen. Scott Brown defeats Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley, it would put the seat held by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in the hands of a committed opponent of the bill, depriving Democrats of the 60-vote majority needed to pass health care in the Senate. After more than a year of tortuous effort to produce signature legislation, Democrats would have no good options.

Health care was at the top of the agenda Tuesday for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who scheduled meetings with her top lieutenants and the full Democratic caucus. The evening meeting with rank-and-file Democrats would coincide with the closing of the polls in Massachusetts.

Pelosi, D-Calif., says there will be no wavering on health care.

“Let’s remove all doubt,” Pelosi told reporters Monday in her hometown of San Francisco. “We will have health care one way or another.”

“I heard the candidate in Massachusetts, the Republican candidate, say, ‘Let’s go back to the drawing board,’” she continued. “The drawing board for the Republican Party on health care is to tear it up and throw it away, and shred it and never revisit it. This is the opportunity of a generation. If this opportunity is not realized, there won’t be health care for all Americans.”

As recently as Friday it seemed as if Democratic congressional leaders and Obama were close to a deal that would remove remaining obstacles to final passage of the bill in the House and Senate. The political equation would get turned upside down if Democrats lose the Massachusetts seat.

Two fallback options discussed over the weekend represent a long shot at best.

One option calls for the House to pass the Senate bill and send it to Obama for his signature. But that ignores at least two significant problems.

To begin with, labor unions are adamantly opposed to an insurance tax in the Senate bill, and they successfully negotiated with Obama last week to weaken it in key respects. Second, a core group of anti-abortion Democrats says the Senate bill’s provisions on restricting taxpayer funding for abortion are unacceptable because they don’t go far enough.

On top of that, many House Democrats do not believe the Senate bill provides enough aid to make health insurance affordable. The core legislation would require most Americans to carry coverage for the first time, while providing subsidies to help low- and middle-income families pay premiums. Most of the benefit would go to people not currently covered by employer insurance.

A senior Democratic leadership aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions are private, said it is very difficult for the House to simply pass the Senate bill on its own.

Those difficulties lead to the second fallback option: getting the Senate to accept changes to its bill as a condition for House passage. But without 60 votes needed to overcome Republican delaying tactics, it would require Senate Democratic leaders to use a special budget-related procedure to pass the changes with only 51 votes. That would enrage Republicans, and it’s not clear that Senate Democrats would have political support to pull off the gambit.

Liberals say Democrats can’t afford to walk away from the health care bill.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group supporting the legislation, said Democrats have to pass the legislation. “If health reform fails, it’s going to cause enormous political hardship for members of Congress and the White House,” he said.