Health Care

Grijalva Requests Changes To Health Care Bill, Vote On Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 4:22PM

In a curt, terse letter delivered today, public option champion, and progressive caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva says he wants to see some major changes to the House's health care bill--reflected in a so-called manager's amendment--before it comes to the floor.

• Americans in every state in the nation must be able to take advantage of the benefits of the bill; thus the bill shall explicitly state that the public option must be available without any triggers or opt-out provisions.
• If the Secretary is forced to negotiate provider reimbursement rates in the public plan, a ceiling shall be determined and set for such rates.
• The bill shall fully repeal the McCarran Ferguson Act for health and medical malpractice insurance, as oppose to merely amending the Act.

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Arlen Specter

Sestak Takes Aim At Specter For Blocking Key Obama Nominee

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 3:05PM

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA)

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) has found a new lever in his primary campaign against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA). Sestak is hitting Specter for his early (and possibly continuing) opposition to the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen, whom President Obama nominated to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel back in February.

"As the administration deals with crucial legal issues from interrogating and prosecuting terrorists to closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Arlen Specter and Senate Republicans have decided to tie the President's hands by denying him a critical advisor," Sestak says in a new statement.

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CBO

Wait A Minute--The Public Option's Premiums Would Be Higher On Average?

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 2:11PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and CBO Director Doug Elmendorf

Health care reformers have a number of arguments for the public option, but the main one is this: that by injecting fairness and competition into the market the public option will lower premiums for everybody, including those paying for private plans. Unfortunately, a new CBO study finds that it may not have that effect at all.

The theory behind the public option is that, by injecting a major non-profit insurer into the marketplace, it will force private competitors to cut down on administrative waste and other excesses, and, therefore, drive premiums down for everybody. Last week, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on the verge of losing the fight for a muscular public option, she said "There's no philosophical difference between a robust public option and negotiated rates. It's just a difference in money."

But is that true? Yesterday, in an analysis of House health care legislation, the CBO concluded that the six million people expected to enroll in the public option by 2019 will be paying, on average, higher premiums than will people buying private plans.

"[A] plan paying negotiated rates would attract a broad network of providers but would typically have premiums that are somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges," wrote CBO chief Doug Elmendorf.

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Barack Obama

Luntz Memo: Obama Not So Popular...But Don't Attack Obama!

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 11:46AM

A new Frank Luntz strategy memo may provide some insight into the Republican's playbook as the fight over reform enters its final stages.

The memo, which you can read here, is one of many similar memos that have been circulated to politicians and activists over the last several months, including by Luntz himself.

In his previous memo, Luntz warned conservatives not to tie health care reform efforts to President Obama--the President's name, he warned, helped buoy the overall level of support for reform. Luntz now says that's not true--but he nonetheless counsels reform opponents not to use the term 'Obamacare.'

"[y]ou can talk about opposing "President Obama's Plan," Luntz writes. "But don't. While you no-longer [sic] shoot yourself in the foot by criticizing the President, you would do much better to criticize Congress."

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Blanche Lincoln

Poll: Arkansas Voters Disagree With Lincoln's Public Option Skepticism

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 10:29AM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

The trend continues: a new Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, finds that a Democrat from a red state may not be doing herself any favors by standing in the way of a public option.

The poll asked Arkansans "Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?"

The findings are in line with other statewide and national polls that find the public option to be broadly popular. 56 favor, 37 oppose.

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Filibuster

Harkin, Again, Hints At Consequences For Off-The-Reservation Chairmen

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 9:17AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)--chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee is rare among senior Senate Democrats. Whereas many in the party view seniority as akin to tenure, Harkin thinks it should come with responsibility. And when powerful chairmen stray, he doesn't keep quiet.

"[Lieberman] still wants to be a part of the Democratic Party although he is a registered independent," Harkin said. "He wants to caucus with us and, of course, he enjoys his chairmanship of the [Homeland Security] committee because of the indulgence of the Democratic Caucus. So, I'm sure all of those things will cross his mind before the final vote."

Lieberman suggested this week that he'll filibuster health care reform legislation if it includes a public option.

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Health Care

Conrad: House Health Care Bill Much Improved

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 6:48PM

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) let it be known in numerous ways that early versions of the House health care bill would not meet his budgetary muster. Now, with CBO saying the House bill is a long term deficit reducer, Conrad has some very kind words for it.

"Much improved," Conrad told me. "It's now paid for, has deficit reduction over the first 10, and savings over the second 10...that's a big improvement. I commend the House. They've made significant strides and they deserve credit for it."

"They did make this sound from a budgetary standpoint, far more sound, and in terms of the public option, they no longer have it tied to Medicare levels of reimbursement which is, as I see it, terribly unfair to the low reimbursement states," he added.

One consequence of not tying the public option to Medicare? The CBO predicts that average premiums will be higher in the public option than in private plans.

Health Care

CBO Says House Health Care Bill Is Deficit Reducer In Near And Long Term

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 4:47PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and CBO Director Doug Elmendorf

The CBO has weighed in with a preliminary cost estimate of the House's health care bill--and there are almost certainly some very happy people in House leadership.

At $894 billion, the bill's 10 year cost comes in a hair under President Obama's $900 billion red line. But, more politically and substantively important, the bill is projected to reduce the deficit in both the first 10 years and the second 10 years after enactment, just as Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told me earlier today.

Over the first 10 years, revenues and savings are projected to exceed new spending (aka it reduces the deficit) by $104 billion. Projections into the following decade are, as CBO chief Doug Elmendorf always notes, very dicey. But Elmendorf says that, from 2020-2029, "the added revenues and cost savings are projected to grow slightly more rapidly than the cost of the coverage expansions." In other words, though the government will pay more and more each year in subsidies and expanded entitlements, it will be realizing savings and collecting revenues at a greater rate.

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Health Care

Pelosi Mum On Obama's Support For The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 4:10PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was mum today about her level of confidence in the White House's commitment to the public option going forward.

On a conference call with reporters and bloggers this afternoon, I asked Pelosi whether, given recent reports about the President Obama's reluctance to push for a public option in the Senate, she was confident he'd be supportive of the measure going forward.

Pelosi said she's been too busy to gauge the White House's commitment to the public option, but suggested that Obama may need to be a bit more persuaded of its political viability if he's going to throw his weight behind it.

"I guess I'm just so busy with what I'm doing that I'm not worrying about what somebody else is doing, and I have confidence in the President of the United States. He wants the strongest best possible bill that will work for the American people. And we have to convince him that what will pass in the Congress is something similar to what we have in the House," Pelosi said

Pelosi acknowledged that a more robust public option--one with payment rates tied to Medicare--was always a long shot in Congress.

"We knew the Senate was not going to that place if even Senator Kennedy was not going in that place," Pelosi said, referring to the fact that an early version of Senate legislation contained a public option with negotiated rates similar to the one she unveiled today.

But that's about as low as she's willing to go. "I don't see any way to go less than that, as good as it is."

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Health Care

Grijalva Continues Push For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 1:59PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)--co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--was not in attendance at today's health care bill unveiling. But his office sends over the following quote, suggesting that he plans to continue his push for a strong public option, even though the base House bill doesn't go as far as he'd like.

"I am not rolling over. I will insist on a Medicare-plus-five amendment on the Floor so that the full Caucus can vote on it. We are hopeful that the Rules Committee will allow this amendment, which has tremendous public support, to be voted on for the record."

Grijalva has been leading the charge in the House for a robust public option, suggesting that progressives might defect from the final bill if the plan isn't tied to Medicare reimbursement rates. We'll keep an eye out for his next move.

Health Care

Democrats Optimistic, Progressives Coming To Terms, On Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 12:22PM

Before House Democrats unveiled their health care bill, the caucus huddled in the basement of the Capitol to get fired up. As the meeting broke, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) darted down the hall and a reporter asked him how many votes he had.

"All we need," Clyburn shouted back, cheekily.

Inside the caucus room, members broke into applause.

Unsurprisingly, optimism was the theme of the morning among House Democrats, though some progressives aren't completely pleased with the outcome.

Rep Lynne Woolsey (D-CA)--co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--said, emphatically, that when she and other liberal leaders meet with the President tonight, she wants to hear him say "that he supports a strong public option and he will take that over to the Senate." As for whether she can support the bill in the House with a somewhat weakened public option, Woolsey told me she needs to learn more.

"We're looking at what they've put in the bill to make up for it not being Medicare-plus-five, to see if it covers...our same goals," she said.

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Health Care

Pelosi To Unveil Health Care Bill This Morning--To Crowd Of Tea Partiers?

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 9:14AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

As announced yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats will unveil the health care bill they plan to bring to the floor this morning. The long awaited legislation will come in at under $900 billion. Like the Senate bill, its public option will reimburse providers at negotiated rates--though unlike in the Senate bill, states will not be allowed to opt out.

Pelosi had pushed in recent days for a more robust public option, which would have saved more money. To make up for those lost savings, the House bill will lower the Medicaid threshold to 150 percent of the poverty line (it was originally expected to cover everybody below 133 percent of poverty).

The employer and individual mandates will be more robust than in the Senate bill, and, as a result, the bill is expected to cover millions more Americans. The $900 billion will be covered by a mix of taxes on high-income earners, industry contributions and savings wrung from existing government health care programs. That means it will not expand the deficit for at least the first 10 years.

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Health Care

The High Drama Behind Reid's Public Option Decision

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 6:40PM

Today, everyone's officially on the same page. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and his leadership team, and the White House all stand behind the Senate health care bill, which, as we learned this week, includes a public option. But the days leading up to Reid's big Monday announcement were perhaps more trying for leading Democrats than has been publicly acknowledged, or than today's picture of calm would lead you to believe.

Much of the hoopla surrounding Reid's decision centers around a tense Thursday night meeting between President Obama and Senate health care principals--including Reid and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--at the White House. But according to sources briefed on White House-Senate health care negotiations, things began boiling over earlier in the week, when a key question was, Who's going to take the blame when the public option doesn't make it in to the base health care bill?

According to a source briefed on White House-Senate health care negotiations, the public option's saving grace was its political popularity with the Democratic base. The source described the back and forth between Senate health care principals and the White House as a "sort of stare down where the two sides were saying, 'you be the face of pulling it out.' Reid wants Obama to do it to give cover to his caucus, Obama wants Reid to do it so he's not the bad guy on the public option, and can still walk away with a win with reform, with bipartisanship, and with a card for everybody running for re-election."

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Health Care

White House Disputes Lieberman On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 5:16PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

A lot of people in Sen. Joe Lieberman's former party are now stepping up to set the record straight, and say they don't agree with his analysis of the impact of the public option.

At the White House briefing today, a reporter asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs whether he agrees with Lieberman, who says both that a public option will cost tax payers dearly, and drive up the cost of health insurance for everybody else--positions that are disputed widely by experts.

Gibbs was pretty direct: "I think we would disagree and I think elements of the Congressional Budget Office would disagree with the analysis that Senator Lieberman has made."

In making those statements, he joins other high profile Democrats who also dispute Lieberman's position. However, though Democrats don't agree with Lieberman, none have publicly chastised him for going rogue yesterday. According to Sam Stein of the Huffington Post, this is reflective of Senate leadership's strategy of winning over the Connecticut senator without pushing back too hard and, perhaps, entrenching his opposition to health care reform.

Chuck Schumer

Key Democratic Senators Correct Lieberman On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 3:06PM

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Key public option supporters in the Senate Democratic Caucus pushed back today on different objections raised by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to the idea of including a public option in health care reform.

"I think one of the problems the leader is working through...is that there have been a number of theories about what a public option is that have been kicked around," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in response to a question from TPMDC. "On the Senate side, in the [HELP] Committee, we chose to...make sure that these public options were self sustaining."

Lieberman has suggested both that the public option would be a drain on taxpayers, and that it would drive up private insurance premiums, in contrast to the findings of most experts.

"I think there's a bit of a function of trying to make sure that everybody's clear exactly what it is that we're proposing," Whitehouse said. "I think once the actual text of the bill is out and it's clear that the HELP language is what was adopted. I think we'll be successfully able to make the case to Senator Lieberman that there is not a subsidy here and it is not an entitlement."

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) added his own two cents as well.

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Health Care

Report: House Health Care Bill Unveiled Tomorrow

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 3:04PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Rumors have been swirling all day, and now ABC is reporting that House leaders will unveil their health care bill at a morning press conference tomorrow.

Of the specifics that were still up in the air, the bill reportedly: will not include a robust public option, as recent signs have been indicating; will cost about $900 billion--in line with President Obama's mark; will cover several million more people than the Senate Finance Committee's bill will; and will be paid for, in large part, with a 5.4 percent surtax on high income families and individuals.

Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

Chris Dodd

Key Senators React To Lieberman's Fuzzy Public Option Logic

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 9:32AM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

One of the most puzzling things about Sen. Joe Lieberman's opposition to the public option is that he says it's based in a belief that a new government "entitlement" will end up being a large burden on taxpayers. In fact, the public option will be paid into (i.e. not subsidized like an entitlement) and the vast consensus among experts, partisan and non-partisan, is that a public option will save the government lots of loot. Moreover, they conclude that the bigger the plan is, the more money it will save.

Yesterday, I asked Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Lieberman's Connecticut colleague Chris Dodd (D-CT) what they thought of Lieberman's backward thinking.

Singing the praises of her preferred 'trigger' solution, Snowe said "[triggers] obviously can have a maximum impact...certainly, not as comparable to a full public option and what they want, but on the other hand what you're doing with the public option is basically crowding out the private sector, because of the government's, you know, inordinate advantage in the market place."

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Health Care

Snowe Pessimistic About Triggers

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 9:13AM

Yesterday Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said he'd filibuster a health care bill if it contains a public option. Many reporters and analysts took this as a sign that an alternative political strategy of courting Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who prefers the public option only as a fall back, would re-emerge.

Well, Snowe herself disagrees.

"I don't see how you get to 60 [votes to replace the public option with a trigger]," Snowe told reporters last night.

Having a public option in the bill, she said, will "make it infinitely more difficult to change that on the floor...I just don't see how that works."

For what it's worth, Lieberman also said he opposes the trigger option yesterday, too. So he's not necessarily making a public push to get Snowe back into the game.

Health Care

House Still Shy On Votes For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 5:59PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Greg Sargent's numbers are right: "47 House Dems are committed No votes, and eight are Leaning No," on a health care bill if it includes a public option, preferred by reformers, that pays providers Medicare rates plus five percent.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose a maximum of 38 votes in her own party, and she's still well over that. Nobody I've asked has gone so far as to say this is the end of the road for the so-called "robust" public option, but it's certainly not a good sign.

This morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he was fairly confident a more modest public option, using negotiated rates, would win out in a vote count.

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Health Care

Baucus Calm In Face Of Lieberman Threat To Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 5:06PM

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)

After a meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democrats in his office this afternoon, chairman Max Baucus sought to contain the fallout from Sen. Joe Lieberman's statement today that he'd be inclined to filibuster a health care bill with a public option in it.

"A lot of this now is in Sen. Reid's hands--I certainly would expect [for the bill to proceed to debate]," Baucus said.

I think he's quite close, and there's time yet. I think some senators are not definitely decided because they want to see the CBO report. They want to look at CBO's cost estimates, coverage estimates, effect on premiums, etc., before they make up their minds. Once the CBO report comes out--at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later--it's going to be positive. And once it's positive, I think we'll find a lot more senators inclined to get on the bill.

For a time line of conflicting Lieberman statements on the public option, see here. For a rundown of his previous willingness not to obstruct legislation, see here.

Health Care

Reid: Lieberman Is The Least Of My Problems

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 2:48PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a development, first reported by TPMDC, that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option.

"Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems," Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference.

During a Q&A session with reporters, Reid offered a fairly spirited defense of Lieberman, signaling perhaps that he doesn't believe Lieberman will ultimately be an obstacle--or at least that he doesn't want to tip his hat: "I don't have anyone that I've worked harder with, have more respect for, in the Senate than Joe Lieberman. As you know, he's my friend. There are a lot of senators--Democrat and Republicans--who don't like [parts of this bill]... Sen. Lieberman will let us get on the bill, and he'll be involved in the amendment process."

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Health Care

Bayh: I Can Imagine Reid's Bill Failing

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 2:09PM

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)

The temperature taking of Senate moderates continues. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) doesn't think of the public option as a high-priority issue. But I asked him whether, in conversations with his fellow moderates, he's gotten the sense that a health care bill with an opt-out public option might get snagged up before it comes to the floor.

He was pretty blunt. "Yeah, I think that's possible." His own chief concern, he says, is the deficit. "But for me, if there are things in here that would substantially explode the deficit in the out years, I would feel so strongly about that, that it would be difficult for me to vote go to the bill without that having been corrected, because once you've done that you've given up, really, your ability to have a significant impact on the outcome."

Filibuster

Lieberman: Sure, I'd Filibuster A Health Care Reform Bill With A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 1:25PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate.

"I told Senator Reid that I'm strongly inclined--i haven't totally decided, but I'm strongly inclined--to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don't support the bill that he's bringing together because it's important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill."

There are two procedural issues at play here. Most people think of a filibuster as a minority blocking passage of a bill that's already been debated ad nauseum on the Senate floor. That's the most standard filibuster. But on major legislation, it's become more common for the minority--in this case the Republicans--to object to the majority getting a chance to debate legislation in the first place. If any one of them objects to the so-called motion to proceed, it will take 60 votes just to start the amendment and debate process. That's a less-discussed filibuster, but it's quite plausible that this health care bill will have to contend with it.

Lieberman is saying that he's pretty much OK with letting senators offer amendments--try to change the legislation, move it in any direction they deem necessary. But when that process is all over, and Harry Reid wants to hold an up or down vote on the final product, Lieberman's saying he'll join that filibuster, if he's not happy with the finished product. Point blank.

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Health Care

Devil In The Details: How Would An "Opt-Out" Public Option Actually Work?

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 1:21PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

We now know that the Senate is making an end run for a public option that gives states a chance to opt out. We also know that Majority Leader Harry Reid is still a handful of votes shy of the 60 he will likely need to pass the overall bill, if it contains the opt out plan.

But how exactly does the opt out work? Senate leaders are mum about the policy details, as they await the CBO to report back a cost estimate. But, after conversations with experts and lawmakers over the past several days, we can take a look at some of the key variables, about which we'll have more information in the coming days.

Yesterday, Reid suggested--though without elaborating, and with substantial lack of clarity--that states will be allowed to opt out starting in 2014.

At a news conference, a reporter asked Reid, "Can states opt out immediately or is there a period of time where they have to," participate in the public plan? He responded, but his answer may have obscured more than it elucidated. "They'll have until 2014," Reid said.

Reid's staff was not forthcoming with clarification, but there are two possible interpretations to this answer.

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Health Care

Hoyer: Probably More Votes For Less-Robust Public Option In House

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 10:40AM

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters this morning the House may unveil its health care bill by the end of the week, but he also said that the Democratic leaders probably have more votes for a more modest public option than they do for the public option preferred by most liberals.

"It's possible... that would be our objective, and it's our objective because we want to consider this bill next week, and we pledged to give 72 hours notice so we need to roll out the bill this week. So it's very possible that we're going to have a meeting right after this meeting and I think we'll have some better feel for where we are on that."

That will likely please anxious reformers, but it may not all be good news. Asked what type of public option the House bill would likely include, Hoyer suggested that a public option with negotiated rates probably has more votes than does a more robust measure. Though the robust public option has a great deal of support among Democrats, Hoyer asks rhetorically "What additional numbers can you add by going to negotiated rates?...[W]e don't have that exact number. But certainly there are people who want the negotiated rates who would add themselves to the number [that support a robust public option] that is anywhere between 200 and 218 at this point in time."

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Health Care

Schumer: We Prevailed On White House That Public Option Was The Way To Go

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 7:41PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

So how did we go from a White House at loggerheads with the Senate leadership last Thursday night over a public option, to a deal today that's exactly what the leadership wanted?

This evening I spoke with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who was in that infamous Thursday night meeting with President Obama and other Senate leaders--and who has been one of the most persistent advocates of a public option on Capitol Hill. As Schumer explains it, the disagreement between the White House and Senate wasn't substantive so much as it was tactical: The White House had its doubts that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could really get 60 votes for a public option with an opt out for states.

"The President listened very carefully," Schumer said in an interview moments ago. "He wanted to make sure that the strategy upon which we were embarking had the ability to carry through."

Schumer has been at the center of the fight over the public option from the earliest days of the health care debate--always there to pull it back from the brink when it at times seemed on the verge of collapse. This situation was no different. After the Thursday meeting, four sources in different Democratic offices told me that the White House had suggested they believed a strategy of pursuing Sen. Olympia Snowe's preferred compromise--a triggered public option--might be an easier path to 60 votes. In the end, though, Schumer and the rest of leadership seem to have prevailed upon President Obama that they've picked the right strategy.

"I think substantively the White House probably preferred a stronger public option than a trigger," Schumer said. "We talked about this for a while in leadership and the White House wanted to hear our thoughts--and when they heard them they thought that this was the right strategy to get our caucus together."

Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the President stands behind Reid as he builds support for the public plan.

"A lot of people around here have faith in Harry Reid's abilty to count votes," Schumer told me.

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Dick Durbin

Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:56PM

A helpful data point for liberal legislators and progressive activists: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)--the Democrats' main vote counter in the Senate--says that the public option-plus-opt out clause was a pragmatic choice. Liberals wouldn't have supported anything less.

Durbin told Ryan Grim of Huffington Post and a handful of other reporters that Reid may very well have chosen to put Olympia Snowe's trigger compromise in the bill "[i] we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we'd end with 61 votes."

But they, apparently didn't. Some in the party made clear that they "felt that that just didn't go far enough moving toward a public option," said Durbin.

Undoubtedly progressives will see today's development as a validation of their intense activism--pressure that wasn't always appreciated by Democratic party elders.

Chris Dodd

Dodd: I Fought For A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:26PM

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)--who lead the HELP committee's health care process, and supported the public plan behind the scenes--is a very big reason this compromise came to life. He wants you to know that: "I fought for a strong public option - in the HELP Committee and in this merger process - because it is the best way to keep costs low and insurance companies honest," said Dodd.

Majority Leader Reid has made a bold and right choice to endorse the HELP Committee public option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out. At its core, health care reform is about making insurance more stable and affordable for those who have it, and available to those who don't, while improving quality and lowering costs. I believe that the public option is a key component to successful reform, and I will continue to lead the fight for it on the Senate floor.

Health Care

Snowe 'Deeply Disappointed,' Says Triggers 'Could Have Been The Road' To Broader Bipartisanship

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:07PM

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME)

Is Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) a definite no vote now? In response to the news that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will include a public option (with an opt out clause) in his health care legislation, Snowe says she's not happy.

"I am deeply disappointed with the Majority Leader's decision to include a public option as the focus of the legislation," Snowe said in a statement. "I still believe that a fallback, safety net plan, to be triggered and available immediately in states where insurance companies fail to offer plans that meet the standards of affordability, could have been the road toward achieving a broader bipartisan consensus in the Senate."

How explicit a statement is that, though? I could be over-parsing here, but it sounds to me as if she's leaving a door pretty wide open to supporting this bill down the line. Note, she doesn't say she's withdrawing her support. And note as well that she says she thinks triggers could have been the path to broader bipartisan consensus--i.e. instead of being the path to just one Republican vote (hers), triggers might have won over a few more GOPers.

She's said she doesn't support the opt out. She's also said it would be very hard for her not to join a Republican health care filibuster under these circumstances. But, despite what Reid said, it's not clear to me that she's completely jumped ship.

Health Care

Baucus: I Support Harry Reid And A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 4:09PM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, who was reportedly none too pleased when he learned that Harry Reid was leaning towards putting a public option in the Senate's health care bill, is now singing a much more positive tune. "It is time to make our system work better for patients and providers, for small business owners and for our economy. It is time for health care reform," Baucus said.

For more than a year, we've been working to meet the goals of reducing the growth of health care costs, improving quality and efficiency and expanding coverage. There are a tremendous number of complicated issues that go into reform and the public option is certainly one of them. I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago, and continue to support any provision, including a public option, that will ensure choice and competition and get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. Success should be our threshold and I am going to fight hard for the 60 votes we need to meet that goal this year.

There's still some wiggle room there. (Will Baucus help twist arms to get to 60?) But he seems to be implying that he thinks the public option plus opt-out can clear the threshold--and that's the first clear statement of his abstract support for the provision in quite some time.

Health Care

Reid Backs Opt Out Plan--Is The Door Still Open To Alternative Measures?

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 1:34PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appears poised today to announce his intent to include a public option with an opt out clause in the bill he brings to the Senate floor.

Policy details will likely be scarce, and the draft bill could still change. What goes to CBO will have different options under certain sections of the legislation, and there are conflicting reports that Reid might ask the CBO to send back analyses of other versions of the public option. Though most on the left would prefer it if public option compromises would simply be suffocated of all oxygen, it's also true that if a public option with an opt-out clause is included in the base bill, it will to a great extent shape the the floor debate. (For instance, 60 votes would be required to strip the public option out of the bill.)

Democrats are being very tight lipped today about exactly what Reid will say, but are suggesting strongly that there will be news.

Health Care

Reid To Make Major Health Care Announcement This Afternoon

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 12:25PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may have some answers for hungry reporters, and anxious activists sooner than expected. The Nevada Democrat will be holding a press conference today at 3:15 p.m. to discuss his progress merging two competing health care bills.

We'll, of course, be there, and will pass on updates as quickly as possible.

Health Care

Over White House Skepticism, Reid Likely To Go The Opt Out Route

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 10:45AM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will send a health care legislation to CBO today, and details of his proposal will be unveiled shortly thereafter, TPMDC has learned. A highly placed source suggests that Reid's preference remains to include a public option with an opt out clause, despite the fact that the White House is skeptical that this is the most politically viable strategy.

As TPMDC has reported, the move would make it much less likely that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will ultimately support the bill, and the White House conveyed skepticism to Reid last week that he was making the right call.

However, a senior White House official tells TNR's Jonathan Cohn that the White House will ultimately back whatever Reid decides to do. Sounds like we'll know for sure pretty soon.