Key House Dem: Public option can't pass without reconciliation

A public option in healthcare reform will not be possible unless budget reconciliation is used, Rep. Robert Andrews said during an interview on Tuesday.

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP), asserted that the House's health bill would include the public option, but would need the procedural maneuver to get it through the Senate.

"I don't think so," Andrews said during an interview on CNBC when asked if a bill containing the public option could pass the Senate. "I don't think there are 60 votes for that in the Senate. But that's why we have a conference, and a lot of things get hammered out there."

Andrews predicted that the preliminary Senate bill would not include the public (or "government-run") option coming into conference, but predicted "some accommodation" between the two chambers' versions of health legislation coming out of conference.

The New Jersey lawmaker seemed confident, though, that reconciliation would come into play in the later stages of the health debate to pass the public option. The budgetary rule allows the Senate to short-circuit filibuster rules and pass legislation with a simple majority of votes.

"It's really been a normal path for major economic legislation, not an abnormal one," he said. "I think that this argument that reconciliation is rare is just not right."

Andrews did say that however the House and Senate proceed, they are unlikely to have passed legislation by early November's 2009 Election Day in time to benefit New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who is locked in a tough reelection battle.

Update, 12:27 p.m.: Andrews told ABC's "Top Line" webcast that he is actively pushing for reconciliation to be used, reasoning that the lower vote threshold would result in a stronger health bill emerging from the Senate. "I don't think I said it would happen, I think I said it should happen. I think a much stronger plan would come out for the country," Andrews said.