Legal Commentary

The Public Option: It's On Obama Now?

By Big Tent Democrat

The Bystander President can no longer stand on the sidelines on HCR, according to Chris Bowers:

[A] source on the Hill confirms to me the Senate HELP and Senate Finance committees will be merged by an informal, behind the scenes process involving the four major players in the Senate: Tom Harkin (Chair of HELP), Max Baucus (Chair of Finance), Harry Reid (Majority Leader), and the White House. Together, these four will meet and decide what sort of bill to send to the Senate floor for debate and amendments.

. . . [T]he only way a public option ends up in the bill that is sent to the Senate floor will be if the fourth major player, the White House, demands it. It is all up to the White House now. If it pushes for a public option to be included in the health care bill sent to the Senate floor, then a public option will pass as part of health care reform (at that point, all we would need are 60 votes for cloture, and from what I hear we have 57 already). However, if it allows a health care bill to go to the floor without a public option, it is pretty unlikely that a public option will pass as part of health care reform.

I disagree with Bowers in this sense - of course HCR would have a public option of course if Obama wanted it. He does not care. The only way the public option gets in is if the House CPC stands firm. The chances would also improve if 2 or 3 Progressive Senators say they will not vote for cloture for any bill that does not have a public option. Hell, if Ben Nelson can do it, why not Bernie Sanders? but the real block will be, as always, the Progressive Block. The conference report may be where it gets done.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 30, 2009 (boomark / email).