And the same time, I'm really happy about it, because the House's dysfunction in the Health Care Reform mess is really their doing:
Unfortunately, [The House membrship] seem not to understand who to be upset with. The White House has devoted more attention to the Senate's needs because the Senate has imposed a 60 vote supermajority requirement upon itself and the House hasn't. The administration agreed to make cuts to the stimulus package because that's what Senate Republicans demanded, or else they would filibuster the measure. The administration lavished attention on moderate Democrats and a handful of Senate Republicans because that's what needed to pass health care reform. The House could just let 40 some moderate members vote no. The Senate can't do that.
This displaced resentment seems to result from the House's failure to understand the basic structure of the American government, and where the corresponding legislative bottlenecks lie. Can't the administration find a couple political scientists to explain this stuff at a House retreat?
The House remains just where it was at the beginning of the new year; at the moment Scott Brown was elected. They remain one vote away from passing Health Care Reform, and they're too bitched off at the Senate to do it.
The House really needs to get its act together. They're starting to sound like Janet Brady. (Just replace the words "Marcia" with "Senate", and you'll get the idea.
