Conference Committee or Ping Pong?

Here's a debate that will only rage inside the beltway: whether the House and Senate reconcile their differences on the sweeping health care reform legislation through a formal Conference Committee (the way we all learned about it on the "how a bill becomes a law" chart), or through a more informal process known as "ping-pong (they teach you that in classes on "Congress and Legislative Behavior").

Republicans--and even today some liberal Democrats, as well as transparency hawks--are crying foul. Even Brian Lamb, the near-God who is the founder of C-SPAN sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging that negotiations be open to "electronic media."

The thing is: the legislative process around health care legislation has been the most open and transparent of any bill in Congressional history. This process began a year ago, with the first subcommittee hearings. There were public markups in all five committees with jurisdiction. There was a day (and night) long debate on the House floor and over a month of debate in the Senate--both times the bills were posted online, in legi-speak, for the American people to download and read in the comfort of their own homes. The final bill that will be produced out of conference also be online before the final vote. Never before have the American people had so much access to an active piece of historic legislation.

Remember the Medicare Prescription Drug bill that Congress rammed through in the dead of night? The one that the Republican-controlled House kept the vote open until 5am so they could corral the final "yea"? The one that was not online, that yielded more unfunded mandates on the states and the one that this current health bill seeks to correct? That bill didn't even get committee votes. It didn't even get two considerations in both houses. You think that bill was put together by a Conference Committee?

This reform could have proceeded the same way. Pelosi, Reid and Obama could have sat down and crafted a bill, attached it as an amendment to an existing piece of legislation and held one vote in both chambers. Could you imagine the public outcry then?

The fact that our nation and our elected officials have spent a whole year (and you could make the point that some have spent more like three decades) on this issue says a lot. I'm happy that Democratic leaders are finally standing up to the obstruction that the GOP wishes to throw at anything and anything that comes out of President Obama's White House.

It's time for the Congress to pass this health care reform bill which will lower costs, extend coverage and fulfill a dream that health care is a right for every American.