Kyl says Baucus will let 9/15 healthcare deadline slide

The September 15th deadline for a bipartisan healthcare bill isn’t likely to be honored, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) predicted Tuesday.

Kyl attempted to call a bluff by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who said last week that if he hadn’t reached a consensus with Republicans by mid-September, he would force a bill through without Republican support.

“He’s set several other deadlines too, and he hasn’t been able to meet them,” Kyl said. “And I worry a little bit that by setting that deadline he could be setting himself up for not the best situation — let’s put it that way.”

Kyl hinted that Republicans would make life politically tough for Democrats if they force through a healthcare bill on a party line vote.

“If there is no bipartisan agreement by that time, then he would be putting a partisan bill before the committee,” he said during an interview on NPR. “And most people, I think, in the administration and on Capitol Hill don’t see that as the best way to get this done.”

Kyl’s counterpart, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said yesterday that he backed Baucus’s deadline, while other Democratic senators said yesterday that they were willing to use reconciliation to force a healthcare bill through the Senate using only Democratic votes.