Key Senate Democrats push for health care public option

Key Senate Democrats push for health care public option

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/16/health.care.harry.reid/index.html?eref=rss_politics&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_allpolitics+%28RSS%3A+Politics%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

February 16, 2010 5:33 p.m. EST

Washington (CNN) -- The fight over health care reform burst back into public view Tuesday as four Democratic senators asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a vote on a government-run public insurance option.

Most observers have considered the public option -- an idea long favored by liberal Democrats -- to be a non-starter since it was dropped from a Senate reform bill passed in December. But Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Sherrod Brown of Ohio signed a letter urging Reid, D-Nevada, to hold a vote on the proposal under a rule known as a reconciliation, which would allow the measure to pass with only 51 votes -- a simple majority.

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