After I read this article, the first reaction was to question whether the wheels were coming off health care reform’s bus. Whether it is or isn’t, this isn’t the type of news that will make Rahm Emanuel sleep well at night:

Senate Democrats are facing another round of delays in their effort to expand Americans’ access to health care because of concern over the cost of the plan and demands that they disclose more about it.

The Senate Finance Committee has yet to vote on its bill as it waits for the Congressional Budget Office to assess the cost. And a group of eight Democrats whose votes may be crucial to final passage urged that the public be given more time to read new drafts of the legislation.

Adding to the unease was the disclosure last night by a congressional panel that it underestimated the fees that drug companies, insurers and medical device makers would pay toward the overhaul. The industries would be assessed $29 billion more than first calculated, the Joint Committee on Taxation said.

“I want to wait until all the stuff is on the table” before deciding how to vote on the finance panel bill, Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said yesterday afternoon. He said he needs to see the CBO analysis first.

If these eight Democrats hold fast to their demands, it’ll throw a major wrench in the Democrats’ plans. The last thing Max Baucus wanted was to have CBO report on the effects his bill would have on states and the amount of tax increases in the bill.

Baucus said he’s hopeful the CBO will deliver an estimate as early as today on a measure that was priced at less than $900 billion over 10 years before the panel made changes. He said the next steps depend on what the CBO finds.

Sen. Baucus’s bill might have a federal price tag of less than $1,000,000,000,000 but that won’t reflect the total cost of the bill. Rest assured that Republicans will scream bloody murder about the costs the bill will push down to the states in one of the biggest unfunded mandates in US history.

Another part of the bill that’s certain to get criticized is the part that imposes fines for people who don’t buy health insurance.

Yesterday, Carl Cameron said that the timetable was likely to get pushed back to late November. That’s verified with this paragraph from the Bloomberg article:

These obstacles may thwart plans by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to start debate in the full Senate next week and get the final legislation to President Barack Obama before the Nov. 26 Thanksgiving holiday. Reid is already coping with friction among fellow Democrats over issues such as whether to create a government-run program to compete with private insurers.

If things get pushed back past the Thanksgiving break, then more senators will squirm heading into a difficult election year. Along with that consideration, waiting until Thanksgiving to have a final vote will give people alot of time to study the bill and pick it apart. As Ed notes here, that’s the last thing they want:

You know how they figured that out? They read the bill. Imagine what Americans could find in this legislation if we had time to read it before the Senate took a vote! Of course, that’s really what Durbin wants to avoid, not a minimal three-day waiting period, which, by the way, is still less than the five-day waiting period imposed on Americans who want to exercise their Second Amendment right to purchase firearms.

The longer thoughtful conservatives can keep pressing for transparency, the more likely it is that we’ll find objectionable provisions in the legislation, the more likely it is that we’ll find hidden costs to the legislation, too.

SIDENOTE: This is the least transparent Congress in history. They refused to let people read the conference committee report on the stimulus bill before voting on it. They did the same thing in the House of Representatives with Cap and Trade. Now, Sen. Baucus is insisting that the Finance Committee vote on his ‘Mother of all unfunded mandates’ bill before writing of the actual bill and before CBO is able to study the effects the actual bill would have on states and people.

That’s why defeating Democrats in 2010 is vitally important. It’s vitally important that wedemote Nancy Pelosi to Minority Leader. The minute we do that is the minute that we stop being a speed bump for the Democrats’ machine.

Based on the Bloomberg article, it’s impossible to say that the wheels will definitely come off the health care reform bus but it isn’t too early to say that the possibility exists like it hasn’t before.

Technorati: Harry Reid, Max Baucus, Jay Rockefeller, Finance Committee, Speaker Pelosi, Transparency, Stimulus, Cap And Trade, Tax Increases, Unfunded Mandates, Medicaid, Democrats, Election 2010

Cross-posted at California Conservative