The Campaign To Salvage…Public Option?

[babylonsister]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/the-campaign-to-salvage-the-public-option/

The Campaign To Salvage…Public Option?


The idea seems extraordinarily far-fetched: Could the public option make a comeback?

With health care reform in serious trouble, you’d think the last thing Dems should be doing is wasting their time trying to revive the idea of including a public plan as part of reform. But a growing number of House Dems are pushing an interesting strategy along these lines that’s worth a look.

To wit: Now that the idea of passing a fix to the Senate bill via a majority vote is being considered, why not revive the public option as part of that fix? A simple majority of Senators favors one, so such a fix could presumably pass via reconciliation.

But more to the point, such a move would make it easier for the Senate bill to pass the House, because it could win over enough liberals — many of whom don’t want to pass the Senate bill — to make it easier to secure the 218 needed for passage.

There’s been an interesting development along these lines, too: The number of House Dems who have signed on to it has now jumped to 64.

The House Dems pushing this strategy are circulating a letter urging Senate leaders to consider this approach. The letter picked up its 64th signatory this morning, and in an interesting twist, the latest signatory, Rep Scott Murphy, was originally a No vote on the House bill — suggesting that this approach could in fact make it easier for the Senate bill to pass the House.

To reiterate: To put it mildly, it seems extremely unlikely, given everything that’s happening, that Harry Reid would acquiesce to this. But it’s an interesting maneuver that’s picking up some support, and it bears watching.

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Update: Also worth mentioning: The effort is being led by two freshman Dems — Jared Polis and Chellie Pingree — which is interesting, because last week’s Research 2000 poll of freshman Dem districts showed strong support for the public option — and opposition to the current Senate bill.

Update II: This overall strategy was first reported on the other day by HuffPo’s Ryan Grim, who noted that House liberals have privately been pushing the Dem leadership to give it serious consideration.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. k&r

It's about time they started listening to me.

:D