Senator Conrad (D-ND), the Budget Committee chair shared with the CBS’ Face the Nation audience that reconciliation wasn’t designed for this purpose, nor is it appropriate for such sweeping legislation:

“…reconciliation cannot be used to pass comprehensive health care reform. It won’t work. It won’t work because it was never designed for that kind of significant legislation. It was designed for deficit reduction… The major package of health care reform cannot move through the reconciliation process. It will not work… It will not work because of the Byrd rule which says anything that doesn’t score for budget purposes has to be eliminated. That would eliminate all the delivery system reform, all the insurance market reform, all of those things the experts tell us are really the most important parts of this bill. The only possible role that I can see for reconciliation would be make modest changes in the major package to improve affordability, to deal with what share of Medicaid expansion the federal government pays, those kinds of issues, which is the traditional role for reconciliation in health care.”

Thank goodness at least one Democrat is using common sense and sound political judgment, unlike Nancy Pelosi who’s wanting fellow Democrats to sacrifice their political careers to pass a very unpopular health care bill.

House Speaker Pelosi says lawmakers aren’t in Washington for job security but ‘to do the job for the American people.’

I think she meant “to do a job on the American people.”

UPDATE: Here is an update to Senator Conrad’s comments:

With Democrats pledging to move ahead on their health care plans following Thursday’s bipartisan health care summit, much of the talk has focused on whether they will use a procedural method known as “reconciliation” to pass a final measure through he Senate.

Reconciliation would allow Democrats to pass the bill with 51 votes rather than have to overcome a Republican filibuster with 60 votes. Since Republicans now hold 41 votes in the 100-seat chamber following Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts last month, reconciliation appears to be on the radar for many Democrats. But the prospect has drawn fierce debate among Democrats and Republicans, as was evident during on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.”

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad (N.D.), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, defended the possible use of reconciliation by saying that the procedure would only be used for “minor” issues with the bill.

“Defended” it only in general terms, of course; Conrad ruled out the use of reconciliation for the purposes foreseen by Harry Reid. Be sure to read it all the way through.

Via Breitbart.tv and Hot Air

Gov. Charlie Crist, a moderate (RINO) Republican, running for the U.S. Senate told the Palm Beach Post on Friday that, unlike many Republicans in Washington, he didn’t think President Obama should scrap his health care reform proposal, but when pressed about what he liked about it, Crist was baffled and couldn’t name one good idea:

“There may be parts of it that you don’t have to scrap. There are three parts of it that I would like to see scrapped: It would raise taxes significantly, it would raise rates significantly and it would take half-a-trillion dollars out of Medicare.

“I think the real issue here, as it relates to health care, is that people want it to not cost so much and people want to have access to it. I think there is a consensus of agreement that the health care that is delivered in America is good. But it’s not easy to get it and it’s too expensive when you do get it.”

Asked if there were any parts of the bill he liked, Crist said:

“I don’t think a whole lot. Watching the discussion yesterday (Thursday) you get a chance to sort of see more of it be ferreted out. You know, I’m the kind of guy … I’m pragmatic. The stimulus is a great example. We needed the money. Every other Republican governor took it, too. I was just maybe a little more honest and straight forward about it. Well, shame on me for being honest. But, you know, as it relates to health care, if there are good ideas, I’m willing to look at them. And I would take that same approach to any issue in Washington.”

Asked again if there were any parts he liked he said:

“Not at present. No.”

Not one good idea?

“There may be. There may be. You know, I’m pretty focused on Florida right now. I mean, after the session I’ll be more focused on the issues in Washington. But I’ve got to do my first job first.”

I think it’s safe to say Charlie Crist has cooked his own goose and has altogether secured his own defeat in the Florida primaries.

A special thank you to Ed Morrisey for the hat tip on this story.