Open Left has been live-tweeting the Senate Finance Committee debate. Follow it here.
Back on September 16th, I posted in detail that there are enough votes to pass a public option in the Senate. Now, Senator Tom Harkin confirms that assessment (hat tip: Americablog):
"I have polled senators, and the vast majority of Democrats - maybe approaching 50 - support a public option," Harkin said told the liberal "Bill Press Radio Show." "So why shouldn't we have a public option? We have the votes.
"I believe we'll have the 60 votes, now that we have the new senator from Massachusetts, to at least get it on the Senate floor," Harkin later added. "But once we cross that hurdle, we only need 51 votes for the public option. And I believe there are, comfortably, 51 votes for a public option."
As of Friday afternoon, Democrats finally achieved 60 active, voting members in the Senate. Further, through your tireless activism on the Senate whip count, we have also achieved 51+ votes in the Senate on health care reform with a public option.
So, the remaining hurdles to passing a public option are making sure that the Senate Budget Committee keeps a public option in the health care bill sent to the Senate floor, and then getting 60 Democrats to not join a Republican filibuster of that bill. This path is, as I argued yesterday, the only procedural option available in the short-term.
Even as the Senate Finance Committee continue to debate, and eventually defeat, a public option today, it is a big victory to get to this point and we still have a viable path to overall victory on the public option. We are not going to win in the Senate Finance Committee--which would have virtually assured victory in the public option fight overall--but we are still alive and kicking.
|