With Brown Win, Healthcare Obstacles Mount

January 20, 2010

Media reports and analyses are describing Scott Brown's upset win in the Massachusetts Senate race as a very serious blow to the President's healthcare reform agenda.

The healthcare push, the AP (1/20, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports, is "not dead," but was sent "to the emergency room in fragile condition." While Democratic leaders are exploring avenues to push a bill through, media reports cast those efforts very much as an uphill battle.

So much so that the New York Times (1/20, A13, Hulse) reports that "House Democrats appeared to rule out the idea of quickly approving a Senate-passed healthcare measure and sending it to President Obama." In fact, DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) took a clear shot at the Senate measure last night, saying, "Healthcare was also part of the debate, and the people of Massachusetts were right to be upset about provisions in the Senate bill like the Nebraska purchase and other special deals."

The Washington Post (1/20, Murray, Montgomery) likewise, reports that "the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress spent Tuesday searching for ways to keep their hard-fought healthcare overhaul alive," but "no workable Plan B emerged."

In another possible area of contention, were the House to vote on the Senate bill, the Washington Times (1/20, Haberkorn) reports that "Rep. Ahn 'Joseph' Cao of Louisiana, the only Republican to vote for the bill in November, won't support it again if the House's strict abortion restrictions are not preserved, his spokeswoman said Tuesday." Cao's "defection would...slice Democrats' vote margin even further. The health bill passed 220-215, just two more than the 218 required for passage."