Jay Rockefeller: “The question is, is the House going to pass it. If there is going to be any health care reform at all, the House has to…”

“The question is, is the House going to pass it. If there is going to be any health care reform at all, the House has to pass it. Now, if the House does pass it, it will then constitute about 85 to 90 percent of the entire health care bill. I listened to my good friend and the Senator from South Dakota talk about 16 percent of the gross national product. But the bill that will come out of the House--hopefully passed--and, therefore, will not have to come back to the Senate will, No. 1, be nowhere--will be the vast majority of the 16 percent, if that is an accurate figure. But one thing that is even more clear to me is it will have absolutely nothing to do with reconciliation, just the regular legislative process. The only question about reconciliation and the only place where it applies from this Senator's point of view is on that particular add-on that would be done to include some Republican ideas and include a few more things that the House wants to do. I ask the Senator from Utah, why does he say this is reconciliation affecting 16 percent of GDP when, in fact, it affects 14 percent or 15 percent of GDP, which is simply in the regular order of Senate process and has nothing to do with reconciliation?”