The push for health care reform is possibly not moving anymore? But I am still trying to keep you in the loop with the debate over whether this bill has a chance of passing or not.  So for now, these semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates will continue. Enjoy!

Today’s Updates – 1/22/10:

To be honest, I sat down to write a lengthy update on the madness and utter chaos this health care debate has turned into since the Massachusetts election on Tuesday, but Politico Pulse has summed it up perfectly, taking the words right out of my mouth:

DEATH WATCH — For the first time in this year-plus debate, Democrats are worried that health reform is in critical condition. House Speaker Pelosi can’t get 218 votes for the Senate bill. Senate moderates don’t want to take up another bill — skinny or reconciliation — and the White House isn’t yet calling the shots. “There’s a real possibility it doesn’t get through,” said a Democratic lobbyist who supports reform. “My guess is, for now, it’s over,” echoed another. There is a sense of anxiety and panic that has set in as Democrats ask, “What now?” Lobbyists familiar with the situation say officials are floundering to find a clear path forward. Reform’s passage, they say, has lost the sense of inevitability it had only a week ago. If Democrats are going to pass reform, Pelosi will need to find 218 votes for the Senate bill, Senate Majority Leader Reid will have to agree to take up budget reconciliation legislation to tweak a House-passed Senate bill — or both sides will have to go back to the drawing board to craft a slimmed-down reform bill. There was some talk among Senate leadership on Thursday of putting together a letter signed by 51 Democratic senators pledging to pass a clean-up bill if the House would pass the Senate bill. But that effort fizzled when support for it didn’t materialize, insiders said. Democratic leaders left the Capitol Thursday without answers and don’t expect any before next week.

Not sure you understand the reconciliation process? Or why are now in this position since Scott Brown took over Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate? You’re not alone, it’s a headache. But here’s an article from the Business Insider that attempts to break down the tricky process of reconciliation and sheds some light on how it might help with passing the health care bill:

The special election in Massachusetts has thrown the process into chaos. [The] Senate Democratic caucus [lost] “the Kennedy seat,” [and] the ability of the conference approved health care bill to overcome a filibuster [is] in doubt. Brown has made no bones about his plans to join a filibuster vote to block health care reform, campaigning as “the 41st vote” against it. That could mean the end of the death of health care reform.

In the 1970s the Senate adopted a rule that applies to the budget process that allows for limited debate, which means that there cannot be a filibuster. The process is called “reconciliation.” Here’s how reconciliation works.  Each of the Senate and the House passes a concurrent resolution  instructing one or more committees to report changes in a law affecting by a certain date. Those committees then support their reports to the budget committee, which combines them into a single omnibus bill. In the Senate, the reconciliation bill then gets only 20 hours of debate before the final vote. So there’s no filibuster risk and the bill can pass with support of just 51 Senators.