Dem Senators Unenthusiastic About Adding Public Option To Reconciliation Fix

Democratic senators have expressed little enthusiasm for adding a public option to the health care reform fix-it bill that is expected to pass the Senate on Thursday before a final vote in the House.

"Not in this bill, because we can't make any substantive changes, but down the road we will be debating that," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told the Huffington Post.

The plan was for the Senate simply to approve the "reconciliation" measure unchanged from the version passed by the House on Sunday. Making any changes requires the bill to go back to the House for yet another vote. Hoping to avoid that, Democratic leadership urged caucus members to vote against every amendment -- even tempting ones, such as one that provided a public option -- as Republicans planned to delay the process with an amendment "vote-a-rama."

The obstacle to the public plan when health care reform passed the Senate in December was the need for a 60 vote supermajority to break a filibuster. Under the reconciliation process, amendments require a simple 50-vote majority and a vice presidential tie-breaker to pass. It's possible that Democrats could, in fact, muster the votes.

And now, for mind-numbingly arcane parliamentary reasons, the reconciliation bill will have to go back to the House after all.

So why not go ahead and see if a public option amendment can muster 50 votes? "Oh, we'll have to see here," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) before entering the Senate chamber. "We'll have to see."

Asked about adding a public option through reconciliation when passing the 2011 budget, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) didn't want to talk about it.

"I'd be unwilling to kick up dust on some new matter before we've resolved this one," he told reporters.

Comments

[Yellowbird]

02:04 PM on 03/26/2010

I am aware of the Byrd rule. But congress had better be aware we the people want public insurance. We don't think much of this insurance regulation reform bill. It won't even help for years... years we don't have left to waste anymore.

We are backed up against a wall here. It's life or death and they say LATER.

B*st*rds.

[Palito]

11:58 AM on 03/26/2010

The PO was traded away more than a year ago. Maybe once the bill fails to control costs in 20 years we'll revisit this issue.

[MeinNH]

08:20 AM on 03/26/2010

The old bait and switcheroo....

[OliverTwist]

08:04 AM on 03/26/2010

I would like to be able to vote for my NJ representatives in the US Senate when they come up for election. I support them fully. Unfortunately there just isn't the support in my neighborhood to get them elected. Until there is more support I would be better off spending my time doing other things to advance progressive causes. If support in my neighborhood develops in the future I will be eager to get together with others to elect NJ Democrats to the US Senate.

[PhilipTaylor]

07:03 AM on 03/26/2010

WHEN THEN?

[scooperss]

06:54 AM on 03/26/2010

"After spending massive sums in an attempt to defeat the bill, why are insurers suddenly eager to help the reforms succeed? "It’s good business for them," says Families USA’s Ron Pollack, who is heading up the Enroll America effort. “All of them will benefit from a business plan standpoint to extend coverage."
[snip]

In truth, the Democratic reforms were never as punishing to the insurance industry as AHIP (or the Democrats themselves) made them out to be. The government-run public option—private insurers’ biggest bugbear—never made it into the final bill. Neither did the repeal of the anti-trust exemption for the industry. The excise tax on high-cost insurance plans got scaled back significantly in the reconciliation fixes.

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/37502

[Shawn112]

06:25 AM on 03/26/2010

translation: we already got paid by the insurance junta.

we don't care.

[AdamWright]

04:57 AM on 03/26/2010

It's never too late for the public option. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

[MayaBeach]

04:35 AM on 03/26/2010

This article needs an update. HOWEVER, people can contact their state legislators urging them to promote utilizing the waiver provision in the recently passed health care bill to provide for a public option as an alternative to the insurance industry that has demonstrated they don't have the welfare or public interest as a priority. If enough states do this it'll be impossible for Congress to ignore or not act upon.

[Paralogos]

11:30 AM on 03/26/2010

Exactly. Writing or calling your elected representatives in Washington to encourage them to enact a national public option while the reconcilliation window is still open would be a good thing to do, but the main chance lies with the states now.

[Cillian O Ceallaigh]

03:08 AM on 03/26/2010

The first step has been taken, and now, with time on their side hopefully, Democrats can begin to improve on the legislation just passed - incremental change better than no change at all.

[afgail]

02:36 AM on 03/26/2010

The death threats worked. The insurance companies win big time. Have you seen the stock market reaction to health care reform? Health insurance stocks are up. The White House really screwed the progressive wing of the party AND the public. DTATH.

[DRaymond]

01:37 AM on 03/26/2010

Right now I think the public and congress are both fatigued with the effort that went into this bill and the need to look at some other issues (Financial Industry, Immigration, etc.). Frankly there are several states that could create a public option on their own and have a large enough pool to make it viable and a voter base that won't kill them for doing it.

[Poorsarah]

12:16 AM on 03/26/2010

OK, fellow Americans, let's get out the cattle prod and get these Dems moving quickly to pass the public option.

[codycap]

12:07 AM on 03/26/2010

The devil is in the details. .

http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/20/bait-and-switch-how-the-%E2%80%9Cpublic-option%E2%80%9D-was-sold/

The public option has to be big enough to succeed.

[coolaid8]

11:44 PM on 03/25/2010

Big surprise. Guess it's time to let the good be the enemy of the perfect.