This article is about the on going argument over the healthcare bill. There is going to be a summit on the 24th of February to try and get things moving. Both sides had a meeting on Wednesday to plan out what they were going to do. The democrats met in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and she said they were only going to talk about substance and she felt very optimistic about the meeting. The democrats did talk about reconciliation, which is a process to solve debates on budget-related bills. It bypasses the need for 60 votes in the Senate and only majority vote is needed. The democrats do not want to do this but they believe it must at least be considered because this is a big deal and it needs to gain steam. Many warn that there could be a very large backlash without the full support. The Republicans have already showed disapproval of this. The number 2 House Republican Cantor of Virginia says, "Their endgame is clear: Demand support for their approach, or go it alone using reconciliation. This partisan tactic -- once soundly rejected by Democrats -- now appears to be a foregone conclusion. That's a sad statement for bipartisanship and for America." Senate Leader Harry Reid though pointed out that this tactic has been used more than 20 times since 1981 by both sides. This ongoing battle is very interesting. The Republicans want the Democrats to rewrite the bill but the Democrats won’t budge. This though is what the Republicans want, they want nothing to happen. It is also interesting what lengths Democrats are willing to do to get the bill passed, if they use the reconciliation process they will be on their own because no one will support them. Then the way republicans react to the idea of democrats using that process is also interesting because they spin it. They make it seem like a negative thing that is horrible and sleazy but both sides have used this process plenty of times within the last 29-30 years.
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