"And yes Mr. Vice President, you're right... "

Listen for yourself.

I will offer a long summary of the run-up to health care reform, but for the time being I am waiting to see whether the Senate will pass the "fixes" through reconciliation. Today, Senator Max Bacus (D-Montanta) suggested that perhaps not all the fixes would pass muster under the "Byrd Rule" which limits what falls under the category of "budgetary" changes [to avoid filibuster, changes to the original senate bill can be only budgetary in nature]. This would mean a potentially painful back-and-forth between the House and Senate. However, lots of things Bacus (and other Senators for that matter) have said to this point haven't turned out to be true. So who knows? Besides, the Senate bill (fury over "kickbacks" to poor people needing health coverage aside) is pretty damn good on its own. So I still think this is all good. But now is the time for the real work to begin.