Dems' bird in hand

Wow — a bill that is actually deficit-neutral. Some indication that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will move to the center on a public option. Encouraging statements from Republicans, albeit far from Capitol Hill, about the need to pass healthcare reform. And new poll numbers showing a sharp drop in opposition to reform.

As I love to say, every once in a while you get a break. President Barack Obama and the Democrats, braced for the coming fight on Afghanistan and wrestling to explain the trajectory of job loss, may have just caught a break on healthcare. This week, as the Congressional Budget Office blessed the Senate Finance Committee bill as an $829 billion deficit-cutter, the White House also succeeded in getting high-profile Republicans around the country to come out in favor of reform. From former Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Bob Dole (Kan.) to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to former Wisconsin governor and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, the supportive statements are rolling in with a unified message: Don't block an imperfect bill; come together to work it out and get the job done.
 
Democrats still only have one Republican who appears to be ready to join them — Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine — and even she hasn't promised anything for certain. But the feeling of momentum and resolve among the disparate coalitions within the party appears to indicate that reform is now close to a sure thing. What it will look like Lord knows, but Republicans are correct when they say the real bill won't be the Senate Finance Committee bill but one crafted in secret by Democrats only. The two chambers are also very far apart on how to pay for reform, with the House adamantly opposed to the Senate Finance plan to tax expensive health plans. But if the Democrats know what is good for them, they will acknowledge that they just might have a bird in hand.
 

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