Republicans Lose Another Round

Republicans have lost the first of many parliamentary challenges to the health care bill, as ruled by the Senate Parliamentarian late last night. This first failed challenge held that the tax on "Cadillac" insurance policies should not have been eligible for reconciliation, because the tax affected Social Security. The Senate Parliamentarian, Alan Fruman, ruled that the tax did not affect Social Security, and was therefore eligible to be considered under reconciliation.

There are many other individual challenges that Frumin has yet to rule on. It's pretty difficult to tell which way the guy will go, though he does work for Democrats. I delved into the Senate Parliamentarian's politics in this story a few weeks ago.

Then, of course, there are the overall challenges by legislators like Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.), who just wrote on this blog about her plans to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare as a whole.