Rockefeller: "I want a bill." Harkin: "This bill...is a giant step forward."

[jefferson_dem]

Rockefeller, Harkin Say They’ll Give Up Public Option (Update1)
By James Rowley and Laura Litvan

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Tom Harkin said they would be willing to drop a “public option” government insurance program to win passage of a health-care overhaul.

“I want a bill,” Rockefeller, of West Virginia, told reporters before Senate Democrats met to discuss the legislation this afternoon. “At some point you’ve got to switch from the sentiment, the emotion, the power of the word” to the facts.

The two senators’ statements suggested a deal might be close. Harkin, an Iowa senator and chairman of the Senate health committee, said he also would be willing to drop a proposal to let people as young as 55 buy into the Medicare program for the elderly.

“This bill, without public option, without Medicare buy-in, is a giant step forward toward transforming American health care,” said Harkin. “That’s reality, there is enough good stuff in that bill that we should move ahead with it.”

Without any Republican support, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needs all 60 votes controlled by Democrats to get a bill passed. The two senators spoke as one of the holdouts, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, said he believes the chamber is close to a health-care agreement.

<SNIP>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aI9J471hlFy4

[grantcart]

1. stunningly unbelievable- Mandates without anything - political suicide

Now the progressive caucus in the House needs to get its walking shoes on.

[polichick]

3. I agree - it's insane to accept this. nt

[quantass]

5. AGREED!! Sad day to be an American -- God help you all!

i am not religious but geez America is F'ed. A new leader needs to rise up "FOR THE PEOPLE" and make them angry enough to storm washington a la the 60s because WOW!

[polichick]

9. Thanks - that's exactly what we need. Perhaps it's finally time for a new party. nt

[jenmito]

18. If the "new party" doesn't have a majority in Congress, what good will it do? n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

7. Have they all gone completely INSANE?!!! n/t

[babylonsister]

13. They're working on it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x56287

In Letter, House Liberals Crank Up Pressure On Obama, Demand Meeting

[Blasphemer]

25. Precisely. nt

[bluestateguy]

2. The concrete is being poured

and now we are living with the consequences of one too many cave ins to Lieberfuck.

This is a lot more serious now than committee chairmanships and who endorsed who in last year's election. It looks like they are going to give that dishonest, sneaky, deceptive little weasel everything he wants....until he moves the goalposts again.

[Zynx]

4. I don't support the bill anymore out of principle.

That principle is that I think it sends a lousy message to the country that one withered old douchebag like Joe Lieberman can kill the best part of a piece of legislation due to some random ideological whim.

[quantass]

8. +1

[Blaukraut]

6. They still won't get a bill because Lieberman isn't done yet

By the time everything he wants out is taken out, it'll be mandated health insurance only. No premium cost control, no lifetime limit caps, nothing to protect the patient, or is it the consumer?

And after all that, that cocksucker Lieberman will STILL vote no.

[mcablue]

10. Politicians pretend to be progressive when they know the progressive measures will fail

that way they get the best of both worlds: They get to look "liberal," and they get to give Big Health companies what they want.

[Vinnie From Indy]

17. You are exactly correct

That is the way game is played in Washington. I wrote an OP offering that the Joe Lieberman thing could have been cooked up long ago. The fact is that Joe IS doing a tremendous favor for many Senators that did not want meaningful reform and also did not want their fingerprints on the knife that killed it.

[thatsrightimirish]

11. pathetic

that's pretty much it

[ej510]

15. We have a one party system.

Most dems in congress are on the same team with the repukes.

[Prism]

12. I really don't understand

Is this hubris and arrogance? Do United States Senators truly believe themselves so untouchable, that they will never have to answer to the electorate in any significant way?

I've been slowly adjusting my expectations downward since the summer, but this is becoming far worse than I imagined.

In any other country, this would be political suicide.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. there are bills and bills Mr. Jay!

you've got to revise the bill before Christmas to get a single payer system

[Vinnie From Indy]

16. It's all bullshit!

I think Democrats would make a huge miscalculation if they pass a bill that drops even the shitty buy in proposal.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Tomorrow the Great Communicator will tell us what a great bill the Senate has

and he will repeat his desire to get a bill on his desk before Xmas with "Health Care Reform" emblazoned on the cover page. What a great photo op is that going to be!

[David Zephyr]

28. Yep. Cameras roll, the music plays, the sheep nod their heads.

We must now all purchase our health "care" from corporations. Sounds exactly like fascism to me.

"Now, everyone fall in line and praise the President and our Democrats in Congress for all they've done for us."

[Cant trust em]

19. I think I just heard the death knell in the senate.

The fun goes back to the house.

[NRaleighLiberal]

20. If it all goes down like this, my days as a Democrat are over. Should we start the DU party?

A party that is not in the pockets of big business, a party that doesn't lie when it opens its mouth, a party that has the actual majority of the American Public and making things better as its central purpose?

[IndianaGreen]

22. The UK has a Liberal Democrat Party

They resulted from a merger of the old Social Democrats with the Liberal Party. They are the third largest party in Parliament. Ideologically they are center left.

[Generator]

23. I want a bill is like saying I want a husband

and his name is Tiger.

[Clio the Leo]

24. Thanks, I've checked off my Rocky and Harkin boxes...

.... and since Schumer was standing behind Reid, I'm going to presume he's of the same sentiment.

Sherrod Brown wants a bill. Now the only person I have to hear from is Weiner.

If they're happy, I'm happy. They know more about the matter than I do, and, more importantly, they stand more to lose from passing a "bad" bill.

[S_E_Fudd]

26. It has ceased being about health care...and has morphed into Democrat care...

They are now so obsessed with getting anything passed so they can avoid being called failures they seem willing to vote for any piece of shit bill that has the label Health care on it...

This piece of shit was nearly worthless with the pathetic public option that was included...it is now worse than nothing...

Kill the thing...

[David Zephyr]

27. Gag me with a spoon. Soon the Republicans will be voting for this sorry piece of shit.

Mandates to buy from corporations the health "care" your life will depend on.

Sounds like exactly like fascism to me if I ever heard it.

[rockymountaindem]

29. So the good thing about Rockefeller is that he'll wait to be the last to stab us in the back

Bummer... I was impressed with him for awhile.