Introducing TWI’s Senate Public Option Reconciliation Scoreboard

Back in the heat of the public option debate last fall, TWI created a scoreboard to track each senator’s position on a government insurance plan to compete with private insurers. Ultimately, Senate Democrats determined that they just couldn’t muster the necessary 60 votes for a bill with a public option, and so they passed legislation without one.

But now, the public option is back, and so is our scoreboard. This time, the debate centers on the possibility of passing a bill with a public option through budget reconciliation rules, which require only 50 votes for passage. The Senate Public Option Reconciliation Scoreboard lists every senator’s stance on both the public option itself and the reconciliation route to passage.

Sure, the odds of a public option are still remote. But with a tremendous amount of uncertainty surrounding the health care debate in the House and Senate, the idea is gaining some ground.

So be sure to stop by the scoreboard daily to get the latest updates on the status of the public option in the Senate.