Good for them. Democrats can't let Senator McConnell risk health care from children just because he wants to shore up conservative support.

Leading House Democrats said Thursday they will negotiate compromise children’s health insurance legislation informally with their Senate counterparts if Senate Republicans continue to block a formal conference committee on the bill.

Democrats were forced to use similar tactics to get around Republican obstruction of the broadly bipartisan ethics bill. The Washington Post reported:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), another critic, had single-handedly blocked the calling of a formal House-Senate conference to negotiate the final deal, forcing Democrats to hammer out the compromise on their own. The House passed it under fast-track procedures that prohibit amendments but require a two-thirds majority for approval -- a threshold that was easily met.

Now, Reid must get the bill through the Senate without any amendment, using a parliamentary tactic that has been roundly criticized by Republicans in the past as strong-arming. But in this case, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has given his tacit assent, laying the blame squarely on his own conservative hard-liners.

"In a sense, we made it difficult on ourselves," McConnell said.