The AP argues in an article today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is largely responsible for merging the Senate HELP and Senate Finance committee health care bills into a single piece of legislation:
With the Senate Finance Committee on the verge of approving a sweeping health overhaul bill as early as Tuesday, the path might appear open for action by the full Senate.
Not so fast.
First the Finance Committee bill must be combined with a more liberal version that the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee wrapped up this summer. Such a merger is so rare that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has never attempted it on any piece of legislation - much less one as complex as President Barack Obama's top legislative priority.(...)
Reid must resolve all those issues and more over the next week or so to come up with a single bill to bring to the Senate floor.(...)
But many of the details are unresolved and it's Reid's job to decide.
Many of the details might be up to Reid to decide, but the public option is not one of them. The process for merging the two bills involves the chairmen of the two Senate committees, Harry Reid, and the White House. Given that Senate HELP chair Tom Harkin will be pushing in favor of a public option being sent to the floor, while Senate Finance chairman Max Baucus will be pushing against it, it will be the White House, not Harry Reid, who serves as the tiebreaking vote. Think about it:
- On one hand, if the White House wants to send a public option to the floor, but Harry Reid does not, within the overall Democratic power structure Tom Harkin plays the White House exceeds Harry Reid plus Max Baucus.
- On the other hand, if the White House does not want to send a public option to the floor but Harry Reid does, then Max Baucus plus the White House cancels out Harry Reid plus Tom Harkin.
In any 2-2 tie, the White House trumps Harry Reid. As such, it is heartening to see the White House pushing to include a public option in the merged bill:
Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead.
President Barack Obama has long advocated a so-called public option, while at the same time repeatedly expressing openness to other ways to offer consumers a potentially more affordable alternative to health plans sold by private insurers.
But now, senior administration officials are holding private meetings almost daily at the Capitol with senior Democratic staff to discuss ways to include a version of the public plan in the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the Senate floor later this month, according to senior Democratic congressional aides.
Good. If they succeed, and a public option is in the bill sent to the Senate floor, it will be a huge boost to the public option campaign. Getting 60 votes to overcome a filibuster of the entire bill is a lot easier than getting 60 votes to add a public option to the bill via Senate floor amendment. This is because even the Senate Conservadems are loathe to cross President Obama by filibustering health care reform, and Senator Schumer claims there are 54 to 56 votes for a public option in and of itself. Schumer's numbers seem a bit optimistic to me, but they are still hopeful.
Our petition to the White House urging that a public option be included in the bill sent to the Senate floor is up to 78,728 signatures. Can we get to 80,000? Add your voice today, telling the White House that we are watching the process closely and expect results. Trying is good, but succeeding is better. |
