George Stephanopoulos says Dems can’t possibly pass both healthcare reform and cap-and-trade, and they’ve effectively chosen healthcare. Dems have supported a plan to push healthcare through via budget reconciliation, which requires only a 50 vote majority. They have not supported a plan to do the same with carbon policy, and “there are nowhere near 60 votes for it,” so it’s effectively dead this year.
As much as Stephanopoulos bugs me, I fear he’s pretty much right about this. Given what we’ve seen so far, a carbon bill that could get to 60 votes in the Senate would have to be utterly emasculated.
