Wicker pledges filibuster of any health bill with public option

[babylonsister]

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/07/21/wicker-pledges-filibuster-of-any-health-bill-with-public-option/

Wicker pledges filibuster of any health bill with public option
@ 4:31 pm by Michael O'Brien


Any healthcare bill that includes a public option will face a filibuster from at least one Republican, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) flatly declared Tuesday.

"We're gonna have to filibuster the idea," Wicker said in an interview on the Paul Gallo radio show. "I do think there are two or three Democrats at least who have said a public option is unacceptable."

The filibuster threat makes somewhat official what had already been suspected — that the GOP would use the procedural measure to block healthcare reform. But Wicker drew a line in the sand over the public option, and suggested Republicans could pick off enough Democrats to sustain a filibuster, if the final bill includes the public (or "government-run") option in its final language.

Wicker said that proposal was "at the heart" of the president's proposal, because, he alleged, President Obama wants to move to a single-payer healthcare system.

"They don't really believe in competition among insurance plans," he said of the president and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). 'And they just wish in their hearts that, long ago, we had moved to a one-payer system like England."

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Surprise! Glad we're making all of those compromises! n/t

[Lasher]

8. So pass it in reconciliation already.

Congressional Republicans are watering it down by extracting compromises, then they'll all vote against it anyway, just like they did with the stimulus bill. We need to stop being chumps.

[FormerDittoHead]

10. Exactly - just like with the stimulus package. *NONE* of them will vote for it! n/t

[joeybee12]

2. Hey nitwit, without a public option there is no competition among health insurers...

...what we have right now is a monopoly and collusion.

[rwheeler31]

3. Oh goodie let Mississippi lead the country , they have done so

well. What a fool.

[rvablue]

4. Never heard of him. If this was a serious plan, wouldn't the leadership be talking about it? n/t

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. From Mississippi no less - One of the poorest states in the entire country!

VOTE HIM OUT!

[kenny blankenship]

6. Can I hold you to that, Senator?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. Well Wicker will take away your medicare and medicare he wants big business to control you

The GOP - the corporation party. They want to privatize EVERYTHING!

[bemildred]

9. Good, let's get it clear who is on which side. nt

[gratuitous]

11. By all means, Sen. Wicker

I'm sick and tired of the threats of a filibuster. Let's get going on one. I want to see it. I want to see Senators reading from phone books, the Congressional Record, everything. I want to see who all is against the health of the American people and in favor of further profits for health insurance companies. I want to see who's getting paid to put people in early graves.

[bemildred]

12. Bring it on, asshole. nt