Is Health-Care Reform Dead?

Will Democrats bury health-care reform in the political graveyard alongside the 60-vote majority they lost on Tuesday? The calls by some moderates, like Evan Bayh, to shelve health-care reform are no surprise—Bayh is nothing if not a reed in the wind for conventional wisdom. But liberal House leaders, who could save health-care reform by passing the Senate bill unchanged, are sounding pessimistic—The New York Times says that, after they met last night, the chances of them passing the Senate bill are “significantly diminished.” While Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are promising to push ahead, some prominent House Dems, like Barney Frank, are saying that the bill should go back to the Senate, where Brown’s vote likely means its death.