After yesterday's announcement by the POTUS to Congress and the American public to get the job done as to passing Health Care, this writer wondered why he waited so long. You see, I believe time has not been kind to the Democrats in Congress and the President on this issue. I also believe the Leadership was set on using the reconciliation process to pass Health Care through Congress since last summer. It wasn't until the corn husker kickback was born and some other gimmicks actually worked, that the Senate Leadership decided to push Health Care through using the regular order requiring 60 votes. The reconciliation process has been the ace in the hole from the very beginning. This was evident in the Spring of 2009 when the option was included in the Budget resolution.

Now that the "cat is out of the bag" lets outline the steps the Senate will go through, doing it's part, to get the bill to the President's desk...maybe.

First the Senate Finance comm. must report some language under the instructions that were included in the 2009 Budget resolution. The Senate will deem that the language meets the requirements of the instructions, and the Senate is then off to the races, now governed under the strict rules of the Budget reconciliation process. For the Majority Leader, one of the most attractive aspects of reconciliation likely will be the 20 hour time limit. 20 hours must look like a walk in the park when he compares that to the endless Senate days and nights spent last Christmas pushing the Senate Health Care bill. I would venture to guess that during that long process, more than 20 hours of Senate session time was expended in quorum calls alone. After the 20 hours of debate time has been expended, the vote-a-rama begins. This process allows Senators to offer amendments and call for votes, without debate. Typically, Majority Leaders of the past have allowed 30 to 60 seconds for explanation between votes. The vote-a-rama has been used by Democrats and Republicans alike during the 30 years of life the reconciliation process has lived in the Senate. This process of continual back-to-back votes can last for days and days, but ultimately, it too will come to an end. The problem can be however, how much damage can this vote-a-rama cause before the ultimate vote to pass the bill occurs. Will the vote-a-rama become the August town hall meetings for the Congressional Democrats? As the saying goes, "timing is everything". I would have to guess right about now that the President's supporters are asking themselves...What took you so long Mr. President?

Stay tuned.

Elizabeth Letchworth is the Owner-Founder of GradeGov.com, 4 times elected United States Senate Secretary for the Majority/Minority, U. S. Senate-retired, presently senior legislative advisor @ Covington & Burling, LLC