House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that House Democrats don't have the votes to pass the Senate version of the health reform bill.
Many observers felt that the House passing the Senate bill was the only way to achieve President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy goal following the Republican victory in the Massachusetts special election that denies Senate Democrats the 60 votes needed to overcome a certain GOP filibuster of reform efforts.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Pelosi cited a deal cut with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., to shield his state from increasing Medicare costs and the tax on high priced health insurance plans in the Senate bill as two of the most troubling elements of the Senate measure.
"In its present form, without any change, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," she said. "There's part of our caucus that would say … we recognize health care reform must be done, let's take some pieces of it and go forward and there are others who are saying let's just get it done and move on. But everybody recognizes that something must be done."
She noted that many Democrats had been uncomfortable with the Senate measure even before the Nebraska provisions were added to it, adding, "I don't see the votes for it at this time."
Pelosi stressed that all options are still on the table, saying that House Democrats are committed to enacting a health reform measure swiftly.
"We have to get a bill passed," she said. "We know that. That's a predicate that we all subscribe to. We have to pass legislation."
She added, "Everything is on the table. … We have to know what our possibilities are."
Pelosi added that while House Democrats now plan to take some time to consider their options, they were not starting over from scratch as a result of the Massachusetts election.
"The idea that at any given time that the Senate would have 60 votes was not what we would call the most iron clad assumption," she said, potentially referring to the fragile health of the aging Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V. "You always have to think what if they don't have 60 for whatever reason on any given day."
She added, "We're always prepared for what if they don't, long before there was even a thought that this would be a closely contested race or one that would be lost."
The general outlines of reform, Pelosi said, would still remain the same moving forward.
"However we achieve it, we must arrive at accountability of the insurance companies," she said. "Affordability is very important. Affordability for the middle class is one of the main purposes of the bill."
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