This morning, I linked to an article in The Hill that contained a typically dumb comment from an unnamed "Senate Democratic Aide." But, that article also highlighted the importance of Senator Jay Rockefeller's vote in the Senate Finance Committee on the Baucus bill. Rockefelller hasn't committed to supporting the final bill yet. This was one of the first times that the focus was on the import of a liberal instead of the usual fawning over Max Baucus, Olympia Snowe or House Blue Dogs.
The liberals in the Senate are starting to understand that they have power, which is why this news from David Dayen is important:
I'm hearing from sources about a letter to Harry Reid from a collection of liberal Senators, led by Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Sherrod Brown, insisting that Reid publicly commit to putting a public option in any health care bill that reaches the Senate floor.The meeting is at 5 PM today.
There's a big difference between having a public option in the bill before the fact or trying to get it in by amendment. It's likely that amendments to the bill will require a 60-vote threshold, therefore it would take 60 votes to get a public option into the bill if it's absent, or 60 to get one out of the bill if it's present. Nobody has said that there are those numbers of votes to do either of those actions, so, whether the bill comes to the Senate floor with a public option or not is a crucial decision. The four people in that room making that decision are Max Baucus of the Finance Committee, Tom Harkin of the HELP Committee, Harry Reid and someone from the White House. A lot of this will depend on the White House's inclination, and they certainly floated their support over the weekend. But Reid's public statements have been noncommittal.
David makes the critical point here: Including the public option in the Senate Democrat's health insurance reform bill means the GOPers need 60 votes to take it out, not the other way around. We're so used to needing the 60 votes. Let's make them do it.
There's very strong public support for the public option. The President supports it. Senate Democratic Leaders really need to use their power here. Including the public option would be one way of showing that they know how to do just that. The Republicans are going to filibuster health insurance reform every step of the way. Harry Reid and his caucus shouldn't make it easy for the GOPers to weaken the bill. The heavy lift should be on the GOP side. And, the bill should have a public option.
