By Dave Andrusko

An important reminder by way of preface, you should go to http://nrlactioncenter.com to keep abreast of the latest on health care "reform" and to learn how you can help stop the biggest expansion of abortion by Congress since Roe v. Wade. This is a tremendous resource which you should visit regularly.

President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi

As I have written many times in the last month, the battle over these incredibly far-reaching proposals is far from over. As explained at the NRL Action Center, "President Obama and top Democratic congressional leaders are continuing to push hard for enactment, in the months just ahead, of sweeping health care restructuring legislation that includes far-reaching pro-abortion provisions.

"President Obama has invited key Republican congressional leaders to participate in a 'summit' on health care on February 25. But Administration officials, and Democratic congressional leaders, already have made it clear that they remain committed to enactment of the essence of the health bill passed by the Senate in December, H.R. 3590."

The process by which Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) will attempt to accomplish this remains fluid. But anyone who thought the horrific six weeks the Democrats have endured would lessen their commitment to furthering PPFA's abortion agenda is dangerously misguided.

How can that be? After all as we wrote about yesterday, Democrats--including so-called "moderates" such as Indiana Senator Evan Bayh--are taking the electorate's temperature and decided to retire in bunches.

But that has served to convince the trio of Obama/Reid/Pelosi not that their party is driving off a cliff, but that the necessity to pass health care restructuring is even greater. So great, in fact, that they retain what some opponents call the "nuclear option"--use of the budget reconciliation process.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), said that if Democrats resorted to budget reconciliation, "you're talking about the exact opposite of bipartisan. You're talking about running over the minority, putting them in cement, and throwing them in the Chicago River." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said this would be "one of the worst grabs for power in the history of the country."

Roll Call this morning confirmed the worst: "Senate Democrats say they see no need to abandon the idea of using reconciliation to pass health care reform this year just because President Barack Obama has scheduled a bipartisan summit next week to try to break the impasse on Capitol Hill." This would be, in that timeworn but apt saying, playing hardball.

Making the atmosphere even more poisonous is all the while Obama is playing to the crowd. Referring to the nationally television summit, Roll Call said Obama's intent "is to use the discussion to jump-start a bipartisan way forward on the health care overhaul."

Presumably, this is some variation the classic good-cop, bad-cop routine, with Obama insincerely professing to want to take the high road even as Senate Democrats trod the low road.

Final thought. While there are some so-called "moderate Democrats who had "already announced their opposition to a reconciliation bill regardless of what is in it," others, according to Roll Call, "appear more flexible." Ah, yes, flexibility.

While so much attention has been focused on the reconciliation controversy--over who can do what and in what circumstances--the bottom line has not changed. No bill (or bills) can reach the president's desk without first receiving majority approval in the House. With or without a reconciliation "sidecar," the Senate-passed health bill, with its half-dozen major abortion-related problems, cannot pass the House so long as Rep. Bart Stupak and his allies stand their ground.

Buckle yourself in, this is going to be a battle to remember. Be sure to visit http://nrlactioncenter.com to learn what you can do to help.

Part One