Do you know why COBRA, the law that lets people keep their health insurance when they leave their jobs, is called COBRA?
"The correct name is continuation benefits. And the only reason it's called COBRA is because it was contained in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985; and that is how we came up with the name COBRA,"
According to NPR health care reform via the reconciliation process has a deep history, going back to 1882. Here's a list of health care reform legislation passed via reconciliation:
As someone with lots of opinions, I've done my share of criticizing President Obama.
My criticism of Obama has to do with how, until recently, he spent more time courting Capitol Hill than maintaining the momentum of his movement. I'm thrilled to see him becoming more involved with the people again. After all, it wasn't his ability to manipulate congress that scared the hell out of the Washington establishment a year ago. It was the masses of people who were standing behind him. That is his strength, his power.
That's also the one tool he has for moving elected leaders whose main goals are to get reelected - scare the hell out of them with their own people demanding something different. In the end, only our votes can compete with the other interests influencing every politician's move. They system rewards members on Capitol Hill who make funding their next reelection bid a priority.
If people want to be mad at something, be mad at a Senate that is so beholden to lobbyists and their money, that the members are incapable of looking beyond their own self interest - winning the next election - to work for something that is good for the people they represent.
The Senate and its leadership need to take responsibility for their own inability to move. They are the immobile bureaucracy too ossified to either fall in line or think anew. It's their job to find a way to pass legislation. President Obama's leadership is not the issue here.
