Bernie Sanders Pushes Back On Public Option

While conservative members of the Democratic caucus threaten to block passage of health care reform if it includes a public health insurance option, a growing chorus of liberal lawmakers are making similar threats if the bill doesn't have one.

Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement on Sunday that the bill must have a strong public option to win his vote.

"I strongly suspect that there are a number of senators, including myself, who would not support final passage without a strong public option," he said. Not supporting final passage, however, is different than vowing to filibuster it and prevent it from even getting to a vote on final passage, as independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut is now doing, hoping to strip the public option.

But Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said on Saturday night that if the bill bends toward the conservatives, "You'll lose people on the left."

One of those could be Roland Burris (D-Ill.), who said Saturday he'd oppose any bill without a public option. "I won't vote for it," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Saturday night, after the health care bill passed a major legislative hurdle by a party-line, landslide 60-39 vote, that Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) are working on crafting a public option compromise that could garner 60 votes.

On Sunday, Schumer predicted that the public option would survive and wind up in the final bill that goes to the president's desk.

Sanders, who self-identifies as a democratic socialist, said that democracy should triumph in the Senate. "The overwhelming majority of Americans want to be able to choose between a strong public option and a private insurance plan. Without that competition, there is very little in this bill that would keep health insurance premiums from escalating rapidly," Sanders said. "This legislation cannot simply be a huge subsidy to private insurance companies that will get millions of new customers and be able to raise their rates as high as they want."

UPDATE: Schumer's spokesman Brian Fallon says that the talks Reid mentioned are not underway, but could be. "Leading up to [Saturday]'s vote, some senators expressed a desire to discuss the public option currently in the Senate bill. Of course, Senator Schumer did not rule that out. But no such talks have yet taken place, and there is not any compromise at hand beyond what Leader Reid has already inserted into the bill. Senator Schumer remains a strong proponent of the opt-out, level playing field public option," said Fallon.

Comments

[arlandbaee]

I don't understand why people who know they are better off than most and always will be, find it hard to give a helping hand to those who have so much less and always will. It makes no sense to me. I believe I am lucky. I find life quite easy, but I have eleven siblings who struggle so hard. They always have. Life is not fair and it's easy to say, be happy with what you have, but it's not easy to live that philosophy. I don't know where this is going except to say that I wish everyone lived a life of fortune and ease. Generosity is a fine attribute. Peace.

[Shake-A-Spear]

Senator Bernie Sanders is OK in my book. He's chronically pissed off for the right reasons and on behalf of his constituents. Contrast this with Joe Liberman's petulance and peevishness Joe Lieberman is chronically pissed off on behalf of Joe Lieberman..

[jsgaetano]

I'm not a fan of Burris or the shady way he got the job... but it's good to see him taking a principled stand on this issue. You'd never have seen the job's previous occupant taking a principled stand, that's for sure.

[tallyho1]

Bernie Sanders is a Socialist which he firmly acknowledged. He started the progressive Caucus in Congress in the 1990's which 77 congress subscribe to, He also is a member of the DSA the Democratic Socialist of America as is Pelosi!!! The DSA used to have their membership on their site but it got to hot so they took it down!

[Beegood]

Useless fearmonger.

[PSzymeczek]

So? Lots of people are members of DSA; they're just working for a little economic justice.

[JustBNice]

We need more intelligent independent thinkers like Bernie Sanders representing us in Congress.

Instead of shills for the lobbyists.

[rebel7]

I read this on another board:

"Puppets change, but the Shadow Government doesn't. "

Will our current puppet leaders vote for the people and provide a true
public option?

hahahahaha

what do you think?

time for a third party. the two we have are selling us out big time.

[CydMiller]

Medicare for all or kill the bill

[Wisconsin Dave]

$1 BILLION FOR MASS TRANSIT ---- $15 BILLION BACK IN TAXES

Invest in government healthcare or new infrastructure and the extra taxes
generated over the life of such improvements will be fifteen times greater
then the government investment.

But we have a capitalist government and the only priority is give capitalists
the unregulated freedom to compete for quick profit, and instant return on
investments.

And so, invest in war, especially this $400 a gallon for gas Afghan War, and
every $10 billion of taxes we invest, the corporate rich scam $4 billion
off the top as pure profit.

[freedomforthemasses]

obama makes all the other tax and spenders look like amateurs
http://www.thefoxnation.com/media/2009/11/22/snl-destroy-obama-over-spending.

[Wisconsin Dave]

No-change Obama hand picked and campaign funded by rich capitalists you,
a perfect fiction, fantasy and fairy tale liberal that is true.

[bluntobject]

It's really long past time for a viable third party in this country, made up of Progressive former Democrats who are sick and tired of being lied to by our politicians and then shafted when they get in office.

Don't worry republicans, this is no call for any dissaffected Democrat to vote for one of your ig.norant candidates.

[BMinDC]

Sadly, I don't think such a thing would survive outside of New England and California. Just look at how terribly the Greens have done since 2000! But if they stock this hypothetical party withsome hardcore Liberals like Weiner, Kucinich, Sanders and such, they'd have my vote.

[Wisconsin Dave]

CAPITALISM ---- EXCESSIVE WEALTH GREED

Just posted: “all socialist dictators are filthy rich.

Democracy, socialism and communism would all work equally well
if the politicians were all honest, as the end game is equality

But capitalism with its excessive wealth, surely that would corrupt
the morals of the most honest politicians on earth.

[freedomforthemasses]

would you like another stub at it? democracy is all you need why waste time with the others? there is no equality even in a communist system there will be others better off then you and will have power over you. the only system that works and works pretty well is ours. democratic republic and a free market system, we will produce more rich and well off people then the other systems. per capita we will have less poor people and we do try to take care of them and we have spend 2-3 trillion dollars since the great society. we don't live in heaven or utopia and not everyone has the same drive to get rich but we all have the same opportunity.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Our capitalist government gives the super-intelligent rich nobility the
unregulated freedom to compete against those less intelligent,
to enrich themselves upon the misery of those less fortunate
and to cause starving children by hoarding excessive wealth.

[somsoc]

dumbsh!t, more debt has been run up by the rethuglican'ts lining the pockets of their war profiteering corporate buddies, and their with their wars of greed, than by all of the FDR, Great Society, and other programs designed to help the real people of this nation (which have been successful until torn down by the greedy rich like Nixon, Bonzo Reagan, the Bush I and the Bush/Cheney disaster. But you are a tro//, you don't get it, all you care about is "you" to he// with with the citizens that built this nation. You'll never understand that the working men and women built and defended this nation, aristocrats and wealthy snobs have seldom cared about the real people. You fit right in with such ilk.

[IcemanXTS]

Completely free market's don't work in the long run, as we are experiencing now.

[freedomforthemasses]

SOCIALISM = EXCESSIVE GOVERNMENT CONTROL

[Wisconsin Dave]

SOCIALISM
The reality that we are all given a different level of intelligence
as a test, to see if we pass our excessive wealth down to those
less intelligent where it belongs.

[somsoc]

FASCISM: a system of government or policy that advocates a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merger of business and state interests and leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism.

Can we say the tro//s infecting this blog, and the majority of the rethuglican't party?

[somsoc]

SOCIALISM: A social system in which the producers possess both the political power and the means of producing and distributing goods.

It was one of the foundational concepts that was an underlying principle the founding fathers looked to in writing the documents we so often ignore today.

[jsgaetano]

Like what, the Patriot Act?

[Wisconsin Dave]

CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT = NO REGULATION

CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT = EXCESSIVE WEALTH

CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT = EXCESSIVE POVERTY

[sirhurtzallot]

Wow imagine a comment not posting, no profanity, well thought out intellectual content.
Let's try this for the mentally challenged and see what transpires.
Bernie, please shut-up and cave. Get on board of this watered down piece of legislation. Quit being such a Weiner, after all you can still blame Burris. Dissension amongst the ranks.......priceless.

[IcemanXTS]

I think they should speak up. If all the progressives keep it up the bill as it is now will seem like a compromise. Otherwise, they'll keep caving until it becomes a watered-down do-nothing bill. In the end they'll vote for it either way.

[in4success]

jesus how many trolls does it take to post the same right-wing talking points AH?

clearly reveals their "sheeple - zombie" nature, nevertheless. no original, informed or critical thoughts...just copy from the GOP TPM and past repeatedly.

it also reveals the desperation of the insurance industry and the treason-ous politicians who depend on them for their PAC funding.

[Nekowolf]

I swear, they practically have a hive-mind mentality or something.

[somsoc]

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has the interests of "We The People" in mind and in their interests. That is what health care is all about. LIEberman openly admits that he is concerned about the health insurance industry and never mentions the people, same same the rethuglicans.

Bernie, Weiner, and to all who will hold out for a strong and vigorous public option, PLEASE hang in there, the bill is worthless without that provision.

[freedomforthemasses]

that's effin funny because i understand "we the people" means we the people can handle our own problems. not "we the sheep" that need to be taken care of. i love it when socialists start quoting the most anti socialist document as support for their takeover of our lives.

[TheUSofA]

Why do you love drug companies so much? Is it the free pens?

[Nekowolf]

What, our Constitution? Anti-socialist?

Maybe in your messed up little "socialism is fascism!" world.

Btw, "we the people" means we the people of the United States.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Most of the Democrate party are the left-wing of you Republician
Party, and your not fooling anyone.

[somsoc]

son, you need to read the Constitution, focus (if you can) on the preamble. Then read, again if you are capable, history of the Constitution, find out how each phrase came into play, and why.

The preamble states:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "

Note: this quote uses the original spelling and punctuation. The phrase you should be looking at within the preamble is "...provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...."

The 'general Welfare' clause is the basis for the school system, social security and medicare, and, hopefully, will be the basis for a single payer health care system. The 'common defence' clause never envisioned wars of aggression like we have engaged in following WWII. We were not threatened by China, during the Korean War, nor was there any basis for Eisenhower to get involved in Viet Nam when the French lost their colonial hold. Afghanistan had some basis in 2001, but that was over by 2002 and Iran was based upon a lie or set of lies fabricated by Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, and their neo-con advisers.

[edwcorey]

Keep reading: "of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...." Conservatives usually gloss over most of it and go straight to the part about the guns.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Freedom for the masses = Slavery for excessive-wealth capitalists

[freedomforthemasses]

i'll answer you even though your comment made no sense, the rich that you are so hatefull of are not going anywhere even if you socialists or communists take over this great country. last time i checked Fidel Castro is a billionaire while he suffocates his island, Hugo Chavez controls all the profits from the oil sales, and he aint hurting, Gorbachev is not broke and all socialist dictators are filthy rich. so hate the rich but they will always rule your pathetic lives and i rather love in a country that affords me the opportunity to someday get rich.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Of course, ability to kìll in war, ability to compete in times of peace,
surely this is in direct proportion to intelligence.

So planet earth is an intelligence dictatorship,
so it is allowed to continue to prove the harm in it,
so that establishes as pure corruption your grand scheme of things.

[somsoc]

As Jefferson said, we do not need, nor should we ever suffer an American aristocracy on our soil. He was so right.

[Tsckey]

It is the duty of government to look our for the good of the people generally, not pander to the needs of industry. Laws are (should be) framed to give clear guidance to those who want to participate in the market place of what is permitted and expected of them to ensure that the good of the nation is protected within the limits of permissible activity. Taking care of the health insurance companies, who are not taking care of the nation, is not something that Congress should spend a lot of time worrying about. Not every enterprise that humans can conceive is lawful, that's why we have laws against extortion, murder, drug running, theft, etc. These are all things that can be done for profit, but they are anti social and rightly prohibited. When an industry conducts itself in a way that his harmful to the health of the nation it, too, should be constrained.

And why in God's name do Righties have such a hard on for protecting rich people? Consider this: take a group of 100 people who have among them $100. Under the rightwing wealth distribution model, 1 person will have $99 and the other 99 will be sharing the $1 that is left.

[Tsckey]

Everyone knows that H.L. Mencken observed that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." His insight has never been more timely, nor has an industry ever capitalized on its underlying truth more than the rapacious healthcare industry. Recognizing that all it takes to sway the uncritical from the path of reason to the path of emotion is a good, scary story, the health insurance companies have spent 100s of millions of dollars frightening the bejeezus out of the American public with tales of death panels, rationing and enormous costs, notwithstanding that the U.S. is the only major industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care to its citizens. Even some third world nations provide such care and the systems employed work very well. Perfect? Perhaps not, but perfection is not a hallmark of our system, which costs much more and still leaves a huge segment of the population either without insurance coverage or woefully under covered. Now, THAT'S scary. Ignorance is curable, but stupidity, which appears to be the salient quality of those determined to defeat healthcare legislation, is forever.

[somsoc]

Your post is one of the most on point I have read in months, WELL DONE!

[Nekowolf]

Hark, truth be told!

[PaxEterna]

and what else can one expect from a nation of food "addicts" driven by their lower chakras?

If we were stupid in Mencken's day, we're down right imbecilic now - and fatter.

[freedomforthemasses]

here we go again you guys have been scaring the sh*t out of the older Americans for years every time we tried to reign in the skyrocketing costs of s.s. and medicare and now you don't like our way of fighting back against you lefty- commies . you say the perfection is not the hallmark of our system neither is to the countries that have socialized medicare so why change it so drastically? why not just focus on the problems that can be fixed quickly and painlessly?

[devildog21]

I'd say your posted nicely summed up Mencken's observation. Thanks for proving that point.

[somsoc]

We could eliminate one major problem by sending all neo-cons like you and the rest of the Palin/Bleck/FAUX Noise/Limbutt following uneducated tro//s to the Arctic to check out the ice melt, and feed the Polar Bears.