March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said House Democrats want to pass a climate-change bill by June and a health-care overhaul by August, and may use procedures aimed at letting the Senate pass the legislation without Republican votes.

Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said today the climate-change legislation may include a cap-and-trade system designed to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He also said lawmakers may use special “reconciliation” procedures that would make the measures filibuster-proof in the Senate to overcome the need there for 60 votes. Democrats control the Senate with 58 votes.

Hoyer told reporters the procedures are “under discussion” because House Democrats are wary of voting for controversial legislation that could end up getting blocked by Senate Republicans. And he said House Democrats want to pass a budget outline laying out their tax-and-spending plans for the next fiscal year by April 3 with the Senate to follow.

President Barack Obama last month proposed a $3.55 trillion budget that would overhaul the health-care system, cut greenhouse gas emissions and raise taxes on companies and the well-to-do by $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Obama’s plan is only a recommendation to Congress. Lawmakers, who write their own budget, will meet behind closed doors to set the parameters of the fiscal debate.

Avoiding Filibusters

A major decision is whether to use the reconciliation procedure that would allow the Senate’s majority party to avoid filibusters that can stall legislation indefinitely.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and a key player in the health-care debate, said today he opposes using the procedure because he doesn’t want to cut Republicans out of the process of approving the legislation. “We won’t get as good of bill” if “you jam something down somebody’s throat,” Baucus said. “It’s far better to be inclusive” because “if you get a partisan solution it tends not to be lasting.”

Baucus said he wants to draft health-care legislation that will win 70 votes in the Senate, which would require the support of at least a dozen Republicans. Other Senate Democrats oppose the reconciliation plan because, they say, the tactic is supposed to be reserved for passing deficit-cutting legislation, not to protect controversial bills from partisan opposition.

Republicans used the procedure to push George W. Bush’s tax cuts through the Senate over Democratic objections. In 2007, Democrats used it to make cuts in federal subsidies to student loan providers such as Sallie Mae. Hoyer said today Democrats may again use the procedure to approve Obama’s proposal to eliminate the subsidies.

Hoyer also said that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told him the current economic crisis is a “200-year event,” which is why policy makers are having trouble coming up with a solution.

Hoyer said Greenspan told him “the answer is so difficult to come up with and have any certitude that this is the answer, because this was such an unusual confluence of circumstances.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 5, 2009 13:46 EST