Carper: 'I Expect I Will' Sign Public Option Letter; Levin Wants To Check Wording First

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) tells TPMDC that he plans to sign a letter urging Senate leadership to pass a public option via reconciliation.

"I expect that I will" sign, Carper said. The letter, written by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), has been signed by 23 senators so far.

That's a bit of a departure from his position just yesterday. Asked by TPMDC if he thought passing a public option via reconciliation was appropriate or desirable, Carper said he thought it wouldn't fly procedurally.

"I don't know that that's going to be part of a reconciliation bill," Carper said. "In fact, I don't know that you can actually do public option in the context of a very narrow reconciliation--I just don't know if that's possible."

Separately, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said he fully supports passing the public option with reconciliation, but wants to read the wording of the letter before he signs on.

"I'm all for it," he said.

Late Update: Here's Carper's exact quote today.

"There are a lot of Senators who understand how difficult a thing we're asking the House to do. If we want them to accept and adopt a senate passed bill and I do, we need to make clear that we're prepared to, as I say, to address the warts that are on the Senate-passed bill."

I asked, "So will you sign that letter?"

"I expect that I will," Carper said.

Late Update: Carper's spokeswoman says he misunderstood the question and does not support using reconciliation for a public option.

Reporting by Christina Bellantoni and Brian Beutler