“Although it only takes 51 votes to approve reconciliation bills, 60 votes are needed to overcome a point of order. If a point of order cannot be overcome and is not ruled improper by the Senate Parliamentarian, the measure objected to would be stripped from the bill and the reconciliation package would be sent back to the House.”
This isn’t quite true.
It is ultimately up to the whomever is presiding over the Senate whether or not the point of order is improper. Although it’s unusual to disregard the advice of the Parliamentarian, the presiding Senator (or the Vice President, when he is presiding) is not obligated to rule as the Parliamentarian advises.
Although it would be disastrous for the on-going comity of the Senate (but I think that ship may have sailed), it seems that all the Dems need to do is have the presiding officer rule the points of order improper. Then, it takes 60 votes to overturn the ruling of the presiding officer.
The presiding officer of the Senate, of course, is the Vice President, or that Senator (always from the majority party) to which the task is delegated at a given time.
To get around this, the Vice President or the designated Democrat will sit in the president’s chair and rule each and every point of order made by Republicans out of order, and be done with it.
And what is the numerical limit on the number of points of order that the Repubs can make?
My point being that the televised image of the VP constantly overruling the Senate Parliamentarian is not one that I would think Democrats would like Americans to see. I would think it would leave the impression among not-normally-engaged voters that the Democrats are carrying "the ends justifies the means" beyond the current and obvious "illegitimate" to "intolerable", requiring a new Congress at the earliest opportunity.
The President Pro Tempore of the Senate is Robert Byrd, D, West Virginia. He will not ignore points of order.
Therefore, Vice President Biden will be there. However, it still doesn’t work. All revenue bills must start in the House. This has taxes, therefore it is a revenue bill. So, even if Obama signs something, it will be appealed directly to the Supreme Court, which will rule 5-4. At present, Kennedy is the swing vote. My guess is that he votes with the Catholics.