If at first you don’t succeed…check the rule books.
 
Sen. Al Franken may have brought the Senate a supermajority this summer, but he and several senators are not letting its death last month stop them from trying to pass a government-run health insurance plan.
 
Franken signed onto a letter Wednesday calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass a public option through a process called “reconciliation.”
 
What’s reconciliation? Check here for a primer. In a nutshell, it’s a legislative tool used to pass budget measures. Most importantly, it only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate, which the Democrats still have (though it’s unclear whether they have that kind of support for a public option).
 
“Minnesotans aren’t content to wait and see when it comes to fixing our broken health care system…A strong public option is one of the best ways to bring down costs, hold insurance companies accountable, and protect health care coverage for Minnesotans,” Franken said in a statement.
 
Some Democratic aides say Franken and his cohorts are swimming against the tide in the Senate, where support for using the budget reconciliation shortcut is on the wane. A reconciliation vote would also inevitably be challenged by Republicans.
 
Reid spokesman Jim Manley gave no commitments, other than to say “we’re going to continue to work with the House and the White House to put together the strongest bill possible.”
 
Kevin Diaz contributed to this post.