Sen. Graham Proposes New "Gang Of 14" To Make Sure Dems Don't "Pull The Nuclear Trigger"

In an effort to prevent a final up-or-down vote on health care reform, many conservatives are attempting to rebrand the reconciliation process as the "nuclear option." Today, Politico reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is even proposing a new bipartisan coalition to prevent Democrats from using reconciliation, much like the "Gang of 14" that thwarted the actual nuclear option in 2005:

Graham said Tuesday that a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators could rescue the Senate from an institutional disaster brought on by the use of the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation to finish the health care bill.

"Many Republicans who were ready to pull the trigger on the nuclear option on judges are now glad they didn't," Graham said. "This place would have ceased to function as we know it. If they do health care through reconciliation, it will be the same consequence. So if you are a moderate Democrat out there looking for a way to deliver health care reforms and not pull the nuclear trigger, there is a model to look at."

Graham's proposal relies on a false comparison.  In 2005, Republicans wanted to change the Senate rules in the middle of a legislative session to prohibit filibusters on President Bush's judicial nominees.  That was the "nuclear option."

The current situation is far different.  To begin with, the Senate already passed comprehensive health reform under the normal rules with 60 votes.  The talk now is of using reconciliation, a relatively routine procedural maneuver, to pass a minor budgetary fix to the Senate bill. (The House will pass the initial package and the reconciliation fix separately.) According to Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman J. Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, this use of reconciliation is "compatible with the law, Senate rules, and the framers' intent."

Second, Graham's warnings about using reconciliation are completely disingenuous. He voted for Bush's tax cuts for the rich in 2003 and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, both of which passed via reconciliation and required Vice President Cheney to cast a tie-breaking vote. Presumably, the Senate didn't "cease to function" at that time.  

Notably, even conservative Democrats like Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) are rejecting Graham's call for a new bipartisan gang. "It's a little late to start that process," Landrieu said.  "The Gang of 14 was directed at getting up-or-down votes," added Nelson. "This is aimed at stopping an up-or-down vote."