The politics of health care reared its ugly head yet again.

A grand, bipartisan bargain to stabilize the U.S. individual insurance market fell apart this week. And members on both sides of the aisle turned to what they know best: blaming the other party.

Republicans say Democrats threw a last-minute wrench in the negotiations by insisting that aspects of the package be exempt from commonly used appropriations language that prevents federal funding from being used for abortions.

“We have always said that this bill would go in the omnibus bill, to which the Hyde language has applied every year since 1976,” Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Republican lead negotiator on the legislation, said. “That’s always been the case. Nothing has changed.”

Snow Day in Washington: Sledders, Cancelled Events and Waiting for the Omnibus