It’s down to four Democrats, two of whom have pretty much gone out so far in their threats to filibuster a public option that any reversal would look like a cave-in. This TPM article looks at each of the four. Meanwhile progressives are pushing for Democrats to sink the bill if it lacks a public option and maintains mandatory coverage. They’re asking what the point is of having a 60 vote majority if a handful of insurance donation laden pols in the party can sink the whole thing. And as I’ve noted in past posts, most of the Progressive Caucus in the House have pledged to vote against any bill without a public option.
The irony in the impasse is that the public option is by far more popular than the health care bill in its entirety, according to a host of polls that the four and the Republicans refuse to even discuss. And never mind that the CBO has scored the public option, particularly one which locks compensation into Medicare rates, is fiscally sound.
Progressives are pushing for Reid to use the process of reconciliation, but it’s not clear exactly what portions of the bill can be passed. There are plenty of other complications and ambiguities and even the progressives in the Senate aren’t pushing it as desireable.
Then there is the “nuclear option” which has been popular as Republicans have shattered all records of filibusters over the past couple of years. Rep. Alan Grayson is proposing that the filibuster proof majority be reduced to 55, which is a pretty convenient number but also in many minds a reasonable one.
Meanwhile, first government takeovers, then death panels, and now the opposition wants you to believe that health care reform will take away your guns.
Anyway, can anybody picture Jimmy Stewart playing Lieberman?
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November 25, 2009 at 2:08 am
Matt
I’m pretty much fed up with the #@!%!* whole thing and with all the corporate-owned politicians who continually stand up for big business at the expense of the public. Mandates without options is a great way to piss off pretty much the entire country. Meanwhile, I just got notified that my health insurance is being increased by $48 more per month starting in Jan… guess Blue Cross figured they needed the money to buy another Senator.
Frankly I hope the progressives do stick to their guns and kill this bill because it’s starting to sound like mess, and like it’ll simply make the situation worse while funneling more of our tax dollars to the insurance companies. And also, Obama deserves a major defeat on this for not getting out there and fighting for a good bill.
I guarantee there’s not many people out in regular America wringing their hands worrying about the government making the poor insurance companies go out of business. All we care about is: a) congress not making things even worse than they already are, and b) to stop getting screwed by the big insurance corporations who continually look to maximize their profit at the expense of our health.
November 25, 2009 at 7:49 am
Moonshadow
However . . . the abortion issue is heating up again and could derail things.
Sen. Casey Says He Will Work To Change Abortion Language in Senate Health Reform Bill
November 25, 2009 at 9:20 am
Eric Kirk
I don’t think that will get very far. Although the Senate is in many ways more conservative than the House, it’s not when it comes to abortion. The prochoice votes are in the majority in the Senate unlike the House.
November 25, 2009 at 11:05 am
Moonshadow
I hear ya Matt!
November 25, 2009 at 11:07 am
Moonshadow
Eric . . . perhaps, but are you willing to take that chance? even if you are a guy?
We have to keep the pressure on our Senators even though they’ve indicated they do not want Stupak-Pitts in there.
AND . . . we have to keep the pressure on for a viable public option. Without those, the best course is to kill the thing.
November 25, 2009 at 11:45 am
Eric Kirk
I definitely think the pressure should stay on, but I think the chances are so low that the primary effort has to be made to keep pressure on for the public option and not get too sidetracked. If and when any Casey amendment comes up for discussion, the pressure should be piled on at that point.
November 25, 2009 at 9:06 pm
moviedad
It’s like we’re serfs banging on the castle wall, waiting for one of the aristocrats to come over and pretend to listen to our needs. It’s life and death for us, literally. It’s just a bigger pay day for most of them.
Do you think the frustration with this process could lead to a successful: “Throw the Bums Out!” campaign in 2012?
November 25, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Moonshadow
I am soooooo disillusioned at the way things are going after having so much hope and optimism after Obama’s election and the outcome in the houses of Congress.
November 25, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Eric Kirk
I’m not. I expected a little more, but progress is and always has been a very slow affair. Health care reform does represent a dramatic change in the very way we even conceive of government in this country – at least most people. It’s natural that some of the people are going to be afraid. And they have rights too. The bottom line is that the majority does not support single payer. They do support the public option. But they aren’t pushing their representatives for it, probably because they’re more worried about their jobs right now, and keeping their homes.
November 26, 2009 at 7:14 am
Moonshadow
Ironically, the major reason people are forced into bankruptcy and out of their homes is medical costs (doctor, hospital, medicine, and insurance).
They’re not thinking logically. Either single payer or the public option would give them a better chance of not being put in the position where they might lose their homes. As for jobs and business . . . so many businesses in this country have the view that workers should be paid as little as possible. In so doing, in the long run, they (businesses) are working against their best interests . . . because decently paid, insured, and healthy, workers are more productive in the long run.
If people are against the “public option” or “single payer” they’re acting against their own interests.
November 26, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Salter
You would have your affordable health care if you allowed insurance companies to sell their policies across state lines. But the power interests in heavily regulated places like California will not let that happen.
November 27, 2009 at 8:29 am
moviedad
Go for it Salter, stand firm with the corporations that kill us for profit, against your own friends and neighbors. Some Jews stood up for the Nazi’s in the early years. I think their reward was a front seat on the train to Dachau.
November 27, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Salter
How does that Kool-Aid taste moviedad? Obama says jump and you ask how far.
November 27, 2009 at 11:22 pm
moviedad
Hmm, a ‘Jonestown’ reference. Some allusion to Obama. Listen pal, I’m a socialist. Check out Sweden and Switzerland if you want to know my politics.