Senior Democrat warns Senate won't pass public health insurance option

Source: Detroit News

Washington -- A senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee said today that "the public option does not have the votes" to pass the Senate, underscoring the high-stakes political battle ahead as President Barack Obama tries to reform the nation's health care system amid a backlash in Michigan and across the nation.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., made his prediction that Senate Democrats couldn't reach a filibuster-proof 60-vote margin for a public insurance option on CBS television's "Face the Nation."

Health care reform dominated the Sunday talk shows, as a showdown nears in Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week she wouldn't be able to pass a bill in the House without a government-run option.

But in the Senate, Conrad came up with a compromise idea -- co-ops that would offer a non-profit, consumer-run alternative to the controversial government-run proposal. Conrad is a senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, which is working on the bill that the Senate will weigh. . . .

Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090823/POLITICS03/908230318/Senior-Democrat-warns-Senate-won-t-pass-public-health-insurance-option

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I am sick and tired of these so-called "Democrats" fighting against health care reform instead of fighting FOR it. Hey, Kent: Go to hell. Or at least get out of the way.

Silly.

"Who anointed them? Apparently, the White House. At least that's what I'm repeatedly being told by sources both on the Hill and in the Administration."

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-gang-of-six-is-deciding-health-care.html

Thanks for your confirmation.

that the President intends to go with the Senate bill. (anointed is not the same as appointed - and has an semi-religious connotation.) I don't think the President told Baucus to take just 6 committee members and create a bill - excluding even the chair of the Health sub-committee, Rockefeller.

The kooks who claimed that Obama was a shadow candidate run by the investment banks and their wealthy cohorts are looking less kooky by the day.

When Obama said that Paulson was doing a good job.

Following that, we have had Monsanto based appointments at FDA and Ag Department.

We have a Geithner/Bernanke "recovery plan" that didn't include much in the way of jobs.

Yes, Geithner could give away trillions to Wall Street buddies, creating nary a job outside Wall St, but avoid giving California 20 billion. Thus the hundreds of thousands of Californians (who do not need the expense of re-training) can go on food stamps, and welfare. The teachers, police, project managers, fire fighters etc can suffer so that Geithner's "free market" theories of recovery can remain in tact.

On Health Care - Obama needed three talking points:

1) We won with 62 percent of the vote. (You l-o-s-t)
2) Seventy six percent of Americans want Universal Health Coverage, Single Payer.
3) This situation is a dire emergency because around 40,000 people a year die from no insurance coverage, or insurers refusing treatment, delaying treatment, retroactively kicking a person out of the program theyhave been paying into.

Instead he went around addressing each and every Right wing nut he could find, and didn't even have strong talking points when he addressed them.

And although no one in any place in this country can bring a gun into a Federal, state or county court houses due to common sense restrictions, the new Obama doctrine lets these people bring guns into town meeting halls!

If pressed for an answer whether he thinks it will pass, all he needs to say is:

I Don't Know, But If It Doesn't Pass It Won't Be Because I Didn't Support It And Vote For It.

They say their listening to their constituents. That means the rest of the country has to bow down to what THEIR constituents want...never mind the rest of us. This isn't about ONE STATE. It's about the entire country. I'm sure the majority of his state can afford health coverage so they could care less about the rest of the country.

He's a self centered ass who is only looking at the next elections because it's ALL about HIM.

Any Democrat -- I'm not sure what Lieberman is -- who votes against cloture has to know that he's splitting the party, and, what's worse, alienating the House. None of these guys -- and ladies -- is without a pet piece of legislation they need or want later in the session.

Conrad and Baucus both do the patented 'Snowe Side-Step and Shuffle'™: -- 'yea' on cloture, 'nay' on the bill.

Which is fine, because 50 + Biden gives you the bill.

("Snowe Side-Step and Shuffle"™ is a registered trademark of U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe. All rights reserved.)

:evilgrin:

they want to compromise further? Then just back right up to single payer. x(

...it will definitely snow in July.

Telling him how dead wrong his ass is?

He is not up for re-election till 2012 and he has a strong base. So threatening a primary isn't going to work with him.

And we don't need a super-supermajority of 80 either.

ugh!! 51 votes, right??? Yes - it will be a major uphill battle but we have to fight for it!

That puts a lot of pressure on the scumbags who don't want a 'public record'! Do it!

I am so tired of the way votes are counted off the record such that legislation is prevented from even making it to a floor vote. If they believed in their votes, they wouldn't be afraid of going on record. Let anyone who wants to filibuster make it part of the record - we'll see how committed they are then.

Either this or single payer or I and mone stop voting. I'll never vote for the psycho crazies but we had the power to change this Nation and we didn't do it. Let it rot.

that they won't piss us off enough to host a necktie party in their honor. They're pretty sure that hate radio and Cable "News" can keep the ignorant masses at bay long enough to escape with their miserable hides. We will have our day

Hillary had already conceded. If the vote had been earlier, I wonder if Obama would have dared to vote for FISA. He needed us liberals to work hard for his election. And Obama is no liberal. He proved that with Geithner, Emmanuel and most of his other appointments.

Why settle for faux Repukes when you can have the real thing?

or be a lame duck for the remainder of his term.

I LOVE Michigan J. Frog!!!!

Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime doll......


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Froggy_Evening

or that corrupt POS from North Dakota.

Let's have a vote and let the blue dogs and Senators like Evan Bayh take their chances with the public.

If Obama does not get a workable public option his presidency is a failed presidency. It is that important. Regardless of whether Obama privately wants a public option or not is now irrelevant. Millions of Americans will NOT accept anything less and they will hold him to his word. G HW Bush learned the hard way with his "Read my lips - no new taxes" pledge. Obama should not discount the Mt. Everest sized backlash that will occur should the bill be a sham or if no bill is produced.

with no public option there will be no meaningful reform. I will not vote for anyone who passes a 'reform' bill that doesn't include a public option.