Harry wrote:
Democrats hoping to ‘ping-pong’ Republicans right out of final health
care reform negotiations
Mon Jan 4, 5:06 pm ET

Now that the House and Senate have both passed separate health care
reform bills, the legislative process shifts to ironing out the
differences. This typically involves having a formal conference
committee containing members of both the House and the Senate. The goal
is to reconcile the two bills, creating a final bill that both chambers
will vote on. In a surprise turn, according to Jonathan Cohn of the New
Republic, Democrats intend to employ an obscure tactic, informally known
as "ping-pong," to shut Republicans out of the final negotiations and
speed the bills toward completion. In "ping-pong" the legislation is
bounced back and forth between the House and the Senate, controlled by
just the Democratic leadership in each chamber and the White House,
until a final agreement can be reached.

It's "almost certain," according to a pair of senior congressional
staffers Cohn spoke to, that the Democratic leadership will seek to
avoid a formal conference committee and its procedural steps. The formal
process and additional votes would have offered multiple additional
opportunities for the Republicans to slow or obstruct the bill's
process, as they did throughout the fall.

As one might expect, Republicans in Congress are aghast over the move.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority leader John Boehner, told
Yahoo! News that such a tactic would break President Obama's campaign
promise of health care debate transparency. He labeled the strategy a
"disgrace"
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**** the republicans.
That's right. **** due process eh. I thought you were better than that.

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