More from the "What if this were Republicans" files

Can you imagine if, when Bush and the Republicans controlled both the White House and Capitol Hill, they had tried to pass a major policy change by bypassing Senate rules allowing the filibuster? That would have been political Armageddon as was threatened if they had carried out their threats to change the rules for judicial nominations to disallow a filibuster. But now it seems that the Obama administration is thinking of trying to pass their health and energy policies as part of the budget resolution rather than as a separate bill. If it's done as part of the budget, then it only needs 50 votes and can't be filibustered. Clever, huh?

President Obama’s budget director said the White House would consider using a Senate procedural tactic so that only 50 votes would be rquired to pass major healthcare and energy reforms.

Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the administration would prefer not to use the budget reconciliation process to push through its package.

But he added: "We have to keep everything on the table. We want to get these.... important things done this year." Orszag called healthcare in particular "the key to our fiscal future."

Orszag made the comments on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

Because they can not be filibustered, budget reconciliations only require 50 votes to pass the Senate. Democrats hold strong majorities in Congress, but still come up short of the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to end debate, which makes it easier for Republicans to block legislation. House rules in comparison make it harder for the minority party to stop bills.

Still, using budget reconciliation to pass policy proposals is controversial, even among some Democrats who believe doing so strains Senate rules and tradition.

Of course, we know how Pelosi and Reid would have howled in protest and how the media would have trumpeted the trickiness and unfairness of such maneuvering. But I bet that this is what they'll do and the media will just gasp in awe about how clever the Obama folk are being in getting their agenda through despite Senate rules.