It’s time to start over on ObamaCare, says … top House Democrat

I feel like Carrey in that scene in “Dumb and Dumber” when he’s told that his chances of scoring with his love interest are a million to one. So you’re telling me there’s a chance…

Although the art of legislating involves compromise, I believe the Senate went off the rails when it agreed with the Obama Administration to water down the reform bill and no longer include the public option…

In the House, we fought hard to repeal McCarran-Ferguson, the antitrust exemption that insurance companies have enjoyed for years. We did that because we believed firmly that those Fortune 500 corporations should not enjoy special treatment.

Yet the Senate bill does not include that provision — despite assurances from some members that they will seek to add it. By ending that protection, we will be able to go after insurance companies with federal penalties for misleading advertising or dishonest business practices…

And of course, the Senate bill did not remove the onerous choice language intended to appeal to anti-abortion forces…

It’s time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask the Senate to go back to the drawing board.

Starting over is, of course, the last thing they’ll do at this point for the simple reason that they don’t want the process to drag on any closer to the midterms than it already has. Dropping HCR altogether would be preferable. Not sure why Slaughter would be twisting Reid’s arm publicly about lefty concessions that he, um, can’t make, but she’s pretty much boxed herself into voting no here. That puts the House vote momentarily at 219-216; Joe Cao has said he can’t vote for a bill that lacks Stupak’s abortion language, which the final bill surely will, so make that … 218-217. That leaves everything in the hands of the Blue Dogs — who, of course, are fully prepared to sell out. Here’s the clip of Jason Altmire last night on Fox Business predicting that “a lot” of centrist Dems will flip to yes this time. Wouldn’t surprise me if the margin on the final bill is wider than the margin on the one they already passed.

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