First of all, I am shocked. Shocked and pleasantly surprised to see Harry Reid take a stand and do something resembling leadership in the health care debate. But it appears to have happened last night.
It seems Rahm got an earful as well on the subject of his waffling wall street journal comments from House Democrats. From Politico: Rep. Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee charged with paying for health care reform, said Emanuel "made a hell of a mistake. He made a hell of a mistake and he knows it."
But most significantly, Reid came forward representing the Democratic caucus which is in favor of a public option. Again, kind of shocking, and exactly what needs to happen to move the public option forward. They will have to go the route of reconciliation, because sixty votes will not be there. And it won't get done by August 8, but who cares. Get it done right.
If Reid sticks to his guns and uses the clout of the Majority leader position, he changes this process completely. Then you will have pressure coming from Obama, above, and from Reid, within the Senate. This sandwich effect will shake up the "inevitablity" of the Baucus legislation.
From Politico:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) abruptly waded into health care reform negotiations Tuesday, telling Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that Democratic leaders had serious concerns about a bill that would tax health benefits and nix a strong public insurance option.
Baucus had been moving in that exact direction before the July 4th recess, and the pressure from Reid to change course threatens to disrupt the delicate bipartisan negotiations that have been going on for months inside the Finance Committee. Reid’s move could also endanger Democratic hopes of sticking to a strict timeline aimed at passing a bill in the Senate before the August recess.
http://www.politico.com/...