Johnson said the Senate will likely scale back the bill in hopes of picking up more support.
“I feel that the bill may need paring back in order to get meaningful reform at all,” Johnson said. “We may be cutting back on the benefits in the health care bill. I don’t know what benefits will be tossed out of the boat.”
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The Senate passed a health care bill on Dec. 24. Because that bill is different than a separate bill passed by the House of Representatives, the two chambers need to reconcile the differences and approve any changes.
But if any changes are made to the Senate bill, Democrats would need to get 60 votes to cut off debate and end the Republican filibuster. Because Brown has pledged to oppose Democratic health care reform proposals, his victory leaves Democrats with only 59 votes unless they can persuade a Republican to change votes.
If scaling back the current bill doesn’t pick up an extra vote, Johnson said Democrats might try breaking up the comprehensive health care reform bill — which has dozens of major provisions — into several smaller bills.
“Incremental change is always a possibility,” Johnson said. “We might expand (the children’s health insurance program) S-CHIP, expand Medicaid and provide insurance reform such as a mandate and coverage of preexisting illnesses. That would be better than nothing.”
Another option Democrats have to deal with their inability to muster 60 votes in the Senate is to have the House of Representatives approve the Senate health care bill as written.
Any changes to the health care bill would then be part of a separate bill — possibly passed in the Senate using complicated “reconciliation” rules which prohibit filibustering and thus require only 51 votes.
“I would be surprised if the House does this, but it’s a possibility,” Johnson said.
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