So I'm not going to pretend that I understand exactly how senators decide to vote for legislation. But Ron Wyden's health care bill, which is solid, impressively comprehensive, reform legislation, now has 11 Senate cosponsors, including six Republicans. And these are powerful, conservative, Republicans -- Grassley, Judd, Gregg, Alexander, Coleman, Crapo, and Bennett (not to mention Lieberman). Grassley, for one, is actually the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, which is the relevant committee. Crapo's on the committee as well.
So, assuming three more Republicans could be persuaded to eschew a filibuster -- say. Warner, McCain, and Graham -- couldn't this bill be passed, like, tomorrow? Bush would veto it, of course. But in theory -- and that "in theory" is where this all breaks down -- a Democratic president could come into office, send this to the floor, and sign it a week later. The world doesn't work like that, but it's very hard for me to imagine why Grassley and Crapo and Bennett are jumping onto this bill if it's only to jump off when its passage approaches reality. This is the sort of congressional coalition building around concrete legislation that didn't precede the Clinton reforms, and which many feel were the missing ingredient for their success. That it's happening organically, among the relevant players, without executive leadership, seems quite meaningful.
