Grijalva Hits Baucus and Obama, Remains Firm on Public Option

The public option-stakes will continue this week, with most eyes on the developments in the Finance Committee. But on the other side of the Hill, progressives continue to insist that, whatever happens in the Senate, one chamber still insists that health care legislation include a public option.

In a new op-ed, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus blasts the proposal written by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) saying it's "all about the insurance industry's bottom line: no teeth in enforcements and regulations, endless patent hoarding for the pharmaceutical industry and laws that rein in citizens to pay these industries the largest transfer of wealth in history," and adding that a bill without a public option would be "unacceptable".

Grijalva even takes a shot at President Obama, saying "he needs to be more direct about what the public option means and what it will do for the American people," and that he, "must live up to the promises he made about real change and prove that he truly stands for the uninsured and working families that need and demand a public option."

Pretty hard-hitting stuff at this point in the fight. It'll be interesting how completely House Democrats take these criticisms to heart when they put their own health care bill on the floor the next several days.