Feinstein: If We Don't Deliver On Health Care 'We've Got A Problem'

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) warned her fellow Democrats on Sunday that if they failed to pass health care reform in the weeks ahead, the opportunity would be lost for historic legislation and the Democratic Party would pay in the polls as a consequence.

"If we don't deliver, we've got a problem," said the California Democrat during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union. "I think it has to be, look, this saves money, this saves lives, this saves Medicare. It is incremental. It goes into effect slowly. The first year some small business tax credits go into effect. That's 2010. And those people in this country who have no coverage because they've been denied for [having] pre-existing conditions will be able to buy insurance. I think that is one big step forward."

Highlighting the incremental-ism of the legislation may seem like a counter-intuitive way to push for its passage. But Feinstein's goal on Sunday seemed to be placating the concerns of some of the more conservative members of the party. She went on to point out that the Senate would have the opportunity to revise the bill in the years ahead if members deemed it to be insufficient or problematic.

"The rest of it goes into effect over a few years," said Feinstein. "It is not 'till 2014 that exchanges will go into effect, and the public option. We have the opportunity to look at it carefully in the next couple years, watch how it goes into effect and if necessary make some changes. But if we miss the opportunity to pass this bill, it is lost."

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!