Buried in a pro/con analysis of the intraparty tussle over reconciliation as the sled to carry Health Care Reform over the finish line is the answer to a question oft posed in varying tones of incredulity:

Why is the Budget & Finance Chair the Big Kahuna on Health Care Reform instead of the HELP Chair (for instance).?

Mark Schmitt, editor of The American Prospect, and a former Finance Committee staffer. is quoted saying:

“If reconciliation became a free-for-all, it’s not just the minority party that would be cut out, the institutional prerogatives of most of the committees other than Budget and Finance would be drastically reduced”

Thus, the insistance that the bill brought to the Senate floor originate in Budget & Finance is in deference to the rule that limits the reconciliation process to BUDGET bills.! (duh)

Which means ( Prez having been joined at the hip to Baucus) that Rahmbo has already decided it’s reconciliation time.

That, of course, has policy implications which militate towards a robust public option.

I do think this plan is coming together….