The reconciliation bill will be heading back to the House for another vote:
Senate Republicans succeeded early Thursday morning in finding two flaws in the House-passed health care reconciliation package. Neither is of any substance, but the Senate parliamentarian informed Democratic leaders that both are in violation of the Byrd Rule.
One is related to Pell Grants and the other makes small technical corrections. Why they’re in violation of the Byrd Rule doesn’t matter; the upshot is that Republicans will succeed in at least slightly altering the legislation, which means that the House is once again required to vote on it. With no substantial changes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) should have little problem assembling the same coalition of 220 Democrats who passed the measure Sunday night. That’s already four more than the minimum 216 required for passage.
No biggie. The only problem I see is that it gives Republicans in the House another chance to take to the floor and try to incite the dangerous backlash from their followers we have been seeing.
But I do wonder how many left wing blogs will accuse the parliamentarian of being some right wing plant over this. My guess is none, unlike the Republicans who attacked him for making decisions they didn’t like.