According to this WSJ report, Senate Democrats are scheming on how they can slit health care reform into two bills, including the government option into the reconciliation bill, then passing the less controversial bill with some Republican support:

Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year’s end.

Senators on the Finance Committee are pushing ahead with talks on a bipartisan bill. Democratic leaders say they hope those talks succeed but increasingly are preparing for the possibility that they do not.

Most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, but certain budget-related measures can pass with 51 votes through a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation.

In recent days, Democratic leaders have concluded they can pack more of their health overhaul plans under this procedure, congressional aides said. They might even be able to include a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, a key demand of the party’s liberal wing, but that remains uncertain.

First off, if Democrats succeed in passing legislation that would create a government-run health care monopoly through reconciliation, that theoretically means Republicans could undo the Democrats’ government-run health care monopoly with reconciliation, too. Of course, that would require recapturing the House, Senate and White House. Still, a government health care monopoly, coupled with steep Medicare cuts and other objectionable provisions, would probably be enough to get Democrats defeated.

As I wrote here, the Democrats have alienated seniors, their biggest, and most reliable, special interest group with President Obama’s proposed $313,000,000,000 Medicare cut over the next decade. That’s just part of the hurdles for passing the government monopoly option. As Ed explains here, there are other hurtdles to overcome:

Some Democrats have threatened this for months, notably Chuck Schumer, but the plan has a couple of big flaws. First, the Democrats have to convince the Senate parliamentarian, ostensibly non-partisan, to agree that the bill is primarily budgetary. No one in their right mind could honestly make that judgment about massive regulation of 15% of the American economy. They’re likely to get denied before they even get started.

However, if they do manage to get past that obstacle, the Republicans can shut down the Senate for the next year. Those unfamiliar with the parliamentary procedure may not realize that a great many steps get skipped by unanimous consent. Bill-reading is just one example. One Senator can force each and every bill to be read aloud at every appearance it makes on the Senate floor, including when they are sent to committee. For ObamaCare and cap-and-trade, one bill reading could take a week, keeping the Senate floor locked off from any other business.

If I was part of the Democrats’ leadership, I’d worry bigtime that Republicans might use their own nuclear option. I don’t think it’ll come to that, though, because there’s other business that the Democrats have to pass first, namely, passing the appropriations bills that fund the government. Those bills will take up the entire month of September.

Before Harry Reid’s Democrats can force the government monopoly option on people, a reconciliation bill has to pass the House. Cobbling 218 votes together for a health care reform bill is difficult enough. Cobbling 218 votes together that includes the government monopoly option might be impossible.

All of this is moot, though, if the Senate parliamentarian rules that the Democrats can’t manipulate the Senate’s rules in that fashion. If the parliamentarian rules that reconciliation can’t be used for health care reform, then the Democrats will have poisoned the atmosphere in DC while driving seniors and independents away in droves. That’s the Democrats’ nightmare scenario.

Harry Reid isn’t even that stupid. At least, I think he isn’t.

Technorati: Senate, Reconciliation, Budget Bills, Unanimous Consent, Health Care, Medicare Cuts, Harry Reid, Government Monopoly, Democrats

Cross-posted at California Conservative