SEIU Pres. urges House to pass Senate bill

The head of the one of the nation's biggest labor organizations urged the House today to pass the Senate health bill, allowing the bill to be signed into law without fighting another 60-vote barrier in the upper chamber.

Andy Stern wrote in the Huffington Post that passing the Senate bill is the best chance to secure meaningful reform now that Democrats have lost their supermajority.

"The House should pass the Senate's health insurance reform bill--with an agreement that it will be fixed, fixed right, and fixed right away through a parallel process," Stern wrote.

Those improvements, Stern said, coud come "through any means possible--whether through reconciliation or other pieces of moving legislation."

In other words, the House could pass the Senate bill, then pass separate legislation to modify the contentious "Cadillac tax." That secondary legislation could then be passed through the Senate with just 51 votes under budget reconciliation rules, since it directly applies to the government's spending and revenue.

Of course, it's not obvious that the House has the votes to pass the Senate bill. A number of pro-life Democrats may vote against the bill since it has weaker abortion restrictions than the House-passed Stupak amendment.

Read his whole post here.