Ezra Klein: The public option: Very alive or totally dead?

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/03/the_public_option_very_alive_o.html

The public option: Very alive or totally dead?


The public option letter in the Senate has more than 40 signatories now. That would seem to push it well beyond the point of viability. But with Nancy Pelosi saying that the Senate doesn't have the votes and "it's not in the reconciliation," it's not exhibiting many signs of life.

As far as I can tell, the story of the public option's resurgence has been a mixture of smart organizing and Senate cowardice. Few senators wanted to stand against the thing. But nor did they want to bring it back into play. So a number of them signed the letter under pressure, waiting and hoping that someone else -- maybe the leadership or the White House -- would figure this out for them. The White House and Pelosi have attempted a version of that. They're not coming out against the public option push; they're just saying the votes don't exist. And maybe they don''t. The letter has 41 senators signed on, which is still fewer than 50.

But the proper way to decide this is with a vote. Sen. Bernard Sanders has promised to bring the public option up in an amendment to the reconciliation package. Good. And if it passes, then Republicans can take a good, long look in the mirror and ask themselves if forcing the Democrats to use a reconciliation strategy rather than compromising to make the bill friendlier to conservative insights was really such a good idea. I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world if relentless obstruction imposed policy costs on Republicans.

[IndianaGreen]

1. Nancy Pelosi Will Not Include Public Option In Final Bill

Ezra Klein can stop spinning his endless bullshit. Obama never wanted single payer, or a Medicare buy-in, or a public option. The public option is dead!

Kill the bill!

Nancy Pelosi Will Not Include Public Option In Final Bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday that she would not include a public option in a health care reconciliation package that the House will send to the Senate.

"We're talking about something that is not going to be part of the legislation," Pelosi said, noting "with sadness" that the public insurance option won't be part of legislation. "I'm quite sad that the public option is not in there," she said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/12/pelosi-public-option_n_496559.html

[DebbieCDC]

2. Read Glenn Greenwald on Salon today

He nails the scumbag Dems in the Senate to the wall on this

[Jennicut]

3. The issue is that the Senate does not have the votes and does not want to deal with amendments

during the reconciliation process because of endless amendments that could come from the Rethugs. Pelosi does not want to have the House pass the bill and then have the reconciliation fix die because the Senate would not vote for the reconciliation bill and the House is stuck having passed the bill they don't like. It is a back and forth negotiation process. Pelosi dropped it back into the lap of the Senate after the Senate gave it to her to deal with. Someone either will take responsibility or it is dead. If it does not have the votes in the Senate, it really is dead. And it might not nor ever really did have the votes.