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Orrin Hatch And The Case Against Bipartisanship

Also making a television appearance on Sunday was Republican Senator Orrin Hatch. On CBS's "Face the Nation," he made a now familiar litany of complaints--among other things, that the reform bills moving through Congress were too expensive and too partisan. But therein lies the problem.

The bills going through Congress are expensive because health reform is expensive. Guaranteeing insurance to every American requires the federal government to spend at least a trillion dollars over ten years. Republicans like Hatch don't seem willing to spend that much money or anywhere close to it.

So the choice may actually be pretty simple. We can have a partisan bill that covers most people or a bipartisan bill that doesn't.

I'll take the partisan bill. I bet most Americans would, too.

--Jonathan Cohn