Can they possibly be considering not allowing the bill to come to the floor for a vote? That would be unprecedented. Emphasis mine. (Requires subscription.)
Reid Floats Public Option Compromise to Moderates
By Emily Pierce
Roll Call Staff
Oct. 22, 2009, 3:24 p.m.
Reid Floats Public Option Compromise to Moderates
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appears to be urging fellow Democrats to support a national public insurance option that states could opt out of as part of a broader health care reform bill, but several crucial swing votes are not yet on board.
Still, it appeared Thursday that Democratic leaders were strongly encouraging wavering Democrats to at least vote to overcome a GOP-led filibuster, even if they ultimately oppose the final health care bill.
“Would I vote to move forward to consider that I couldn’t support? That’s the other question that’s being asked,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) of the calculations he and his fellow centrists were making.
Nelson, who along with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has been holding meetings with a small group of moderates, said he has serious reservations about creating a national public insurance option, regardless of the potential for states to opt out.
“The question is how difficult will it be for states to opt out, that’s always the question, and will some states opt out?” Nelson said. “I’m not sure I understand why you want to have a national public option in advance of the states saying there’s a need for one.”
But both Snowe and Nelson said their group of five to six centrists is concerned about taking a procedural vote that would officially bring the bill to the floor. Neither Snowe nor Nelson would name the meeting attendees, saying the makeup has changed from day to day, but earlier this week the invitee list included Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine.). The group met Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
Nelson said there is “a lot of concern about voting for a motion to proceed without knowing well in advance what’s going to be within the merged bill.” Reid has been working with the White House, Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) — the No. 2 Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel — to merge the two committees’ bills.
Snowe and Nelson noted that centrists want to make sure the underlying bill is acceptable to them before allowing it to come to the floor. They argued that once the measure is officially being debated, it will be difficult to secure the 60 votes necessary to strip key provisions — such as a public insurance option. Sixty votes are needed to overcome a filibuster of any amendment or bill.
“It would take 60 votes to remove anything. That’s the difficulty,” said Snowe. “So I think that’s the important , the whole issue of the 60 votes on the motion to proceed, because it will be very difficult to garner 60 votes to remove anything.”
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