rssDodd Reiterates Support for Public Plan
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 4:07 pm
- 2 Comments
Still recovering from prostate cancer surgery, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) just shot out a statement reaffirming the importance of the public insurance option to the Democrats’ health reform legislation. Dodd had stepped in to replace the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee during the July markup of the panel’s reform proposal.
The Senate HELP Committee has passed a uniquely American bill, one that cuts costs, protects patient choice, and guarantees every citizen access to affordable, quality health care. It also includes a strong public option that has earned the support of moderates in both the House and the Senate.
That is significant and undeniable progress – but it took a lot of hard and serious work. In drafting the bill, we considered hundreds of ideas, accepting 161 Republican amendments over the course of the most thorough markup in committee history.
Although President Obama has said for months that he wouldn’t draw a line in the sand on the public option, comments by White House officials over the weekend inspired headlines insinuating that the administration has caved on the issue. Dodd’s statement doesn’t mention that episode, but the timing is telling.
It might not matter. Even if Democrats agree to drop the public, Republican leaders are vowing to oppose the Democrats’ reform plans for a host of other reasons.
2 Comments
Comment posted August 19, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
Here is the math on the public option-
There are exactly 17-19 people, in the whole country, who are holding up heathcare reform. The house of representatives wants it, and has ample numbers to pass it. The presidents says he prefers a public option. Finally, in the senate, by even Kent Conrad’s whip count, 41-43 senators of 60 democrats (over two-thirds) will vote for a public option. By my count, that leaves 17-19 senators standing in the way of passing this thing!
It’s not 100 house members holding up what the majority of democrats want. It’s 17-19 senators. 4 out of 5 bills under consideration contain the public option. The republicans don’t count here, and refuse to participate.
Why not put the whole weight of the arm twisting on the 17-19 senators? We have the majority of democrats in all 3 branches of government in favor of a public option. The progressives, labor unions, the AARP, and 71 percent of democrats in general favor it. Yet, 17-19 people can hold up reform ?
Time to explain it to them in terms they can understand. Fall in line,or lose party financial support, labor will sit on their hands in your next election, and you will face primary opponents.
Give them a bone if they play along. This is politics, as practiced for long as history remembers.
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