Buy-in is out in appeal to all 60 Democrats
WASHINGTON (The Washington Post) - Senate Democratic leaders appeared poised last night to abandon efforts to create a government-run insurance safety net in their push for health-care reform, as they attempted to close ranks around a bill they hoped would win the backing of all 60 members of their caucus.
Democratic negotiators had already disappointed liberal legislators by jettisoning a full-fledged public insurance plan a week earlier. Last night, party leaders conceded that the compromise they crafted to replace the public option -- which included a proposal allowing people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare -- also did not have sufficient support from Democratic moderates to overcome a likely Republican filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after consulting with senior White House officials, rallied his caucus in a closed-door meeting yesterday evening, reminding senators that there was broad consensus behind most of the provisions in the $848 billion package and warning them of the consequences of not passing a bill before the end of the year.
Democratic negotiators had already disappointed liberal legislators by jettisoning a full-fledged public insurance plan a week earlier. Last night, party leaders conceded that the compromise they crafted to replace the public option -- which included a proposal allowing people as young as 55 to buy into Medicare -- also did not have sufficient support from Democratic moderates to overcome a likely Republican filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after consulting with senior White House officials, rallied his caucus in a closed-door meeting yesterday evening, reminding senators that there was broad consensus behind most of the provisions in the $848 billion package and warning them of the consequences of not passing a bill before the end of the year.
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:00 PM
1 Comments:
Will a Democrat Ever Object to the Unpopular Provisions?
(National Review Online) - It's been strange how the public option has been so radioactive throughout the health-care debate when it's not particularly unpopular compared to other provisions of the bill. This is where I think Lieberman's otherwise obnoxiously over-the-top critics have a point — he's opposed to the public option partly on grounds it'll add to the deficit, when it's really the rest of the bill that he supports that adds to the deficit. Will a Democrat ever pop up and say he's not going to vote for the thing because of the truly politically poisonous provisions, the tax hikes and Medicare cuts? And object to the essential fiscal dishonesty of the entire endeavor? That's the dog that hasn't barked here.
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