The End of Bipartisanship on Health Reform?

So implies Congressional Quarterly, which reported today that the Obama administration is leaning toward a strategy of basing its “bipartisanship” determination on GOP amendments to the health bill, rather than the number of GOP votes the proposal ultimately wins.

[P]rivately, White House officials said the administration is moving closer to advancing the overhaul under a congressional procedure known as budget reconciliation that would make the bill immune to filibuster in the Senate.

While the administration still prefers to get a bill that commands some Republican support, its standard for a bipartisan agreement is a measure that contains GOP amendments — not something that will necessarily attract Republican votes.

There’s good reason for the administration’s mid-debate semantics exercise: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today passed its version of the Democrats’ health reform bill. The measure included more than 160 GOP amendments, but didn’t get a single vote of support from panel Republicans.