How fast could they ram health care through, and on to the Presidents desk

[DaveinJapan]

if they really wanted to?

By that I mean, hypothetically, all of a sudden every congress person in Washington suddenly got flooded with nothing but calls demanding a bill TODAY (I know it's not realistic, I'm just putting out the hypothetical as a means to ask my timing question).

Seems to me they rammed through the TARP in record time, since it was such an "emergency", with so many dying TODAY I wonder just how quickly they could deal with real reform if they really decided to stop dicking around.

[DaveinJapan]

1. Anyone have any thoughts? I was just curious about potential timelines etc... nt

[Kaleva]

2. By the end of the year i imagine.

[iceman66]

3. About as fast as they cut off ACORN funding

after the FOX news smear campaign.

That was pretty damn fast.

[bigtree]

4. reconciliation is quick

But I don't think Reid is ready to adopt that strategy.

[kctim]

5. TARP was a shell game

in that its passage did not have an immediate impact on personal lives. Whatever healthcare plan they come up with will impact everybodys lives, so it takes more time.
I believe they know President Obama wants a plan that will work AND one which does not infringe on rights, or they are just wasting their time.

I wouldn't want something such as this to be created overnight.

[gratuitous]

6. As fast as when they meddled in the Terri Schiavo case

A videotape diagnosis, wall-to-wall coverage on Fox, idiots with spoons, and voila! A woman brain-dead and comatose for a decade becomes the "beneficiary" of emergency congressional action. They even called the Dim Son back early from one of his innumerable "working" vacations.