You know where this started from? When Rep. Hoyer said that the public option would have to go for the passage of the bill in the House, it was a clear signal from Steny Hoyer to the Blue Dog Caucus in the House to get them to block the passage of the bill in order to strip out the public option.
Now, as if on cue, some of the Blue Dog Democrats are picking up on Steny Hoyer's message about the public option "having to go" for the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives:
The House's healthcare reform bill will have to be changed before it can even win a majority among Democrats, one centrist, Blue Dog Democrat insisted Friday.
Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), who opposed the health bill on the Ways and Means committee, signaled that Democrats may not even have the votes to force through a preliminary health bill without any Republican support.
"And in order to get a majority even among the Democratic Party, we're going to have to change the way that House bill is formatted right now," Altmire said during an appearance on Fox News.
And now, another Blue Dog Democrat, Rep. Boyd, is echoing the same words of Rep. Jason Altmire in his town hall meetings:
But he did reflect the increasing unease of moderate Democrats with the issue, in Marianna holding up hefty H.R. 3200 — the primary bill in the House — and proclaiming to applause that he would not support it as is.
He also told crowds that the public option was probably unlikely, that he would prefer the process to slow down and was open to a more incremental approach.
And in an effort at reassurance in Marianna, he urged the audience to pay attention to the Senate Finance Committee, the only relevant committee in either chamber that has yet to move a bill and the one that is most inclined toward a centrist approach.
“Wherever we end up will be more like what they're doing, anyway,” Boyd said.
For Reps. Altmire and Boyd, that means getting rid of the public option in exchange for co-ops in the Senate Finance Committee bill, or else the rest of his Blue Dog Caucus will threaten to block the passage of health care reform in the House. When Members of Congress come back from recess, the Blue Dog Caucus will likely throw a ruckus, threaten to block the passage of legislation unless the public option is stripped out in favor of regional co-operatives, and then it's up to the Democratic leadership and the White House on whether to accommodate the Blue Dog Democrats.
I think their threats aren't real, but it depends on whether our progressives in the House will stand together as a voting bloc to refuse to support the passage of health care reform without a public option in the final bill. They've supposedly signed a letter demanding that any bill, including the conference report, be passed with a public option in it.
Right now, we're at 25,000 signatures on our petition to these progressive Members of Congress, and we NEEDto reach our goal of 40,000 signatures so Nyceve and Jane can personally deliver them to Capitol Hill to each progressive Member of Congress!
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION and forward it to everyone you know! The more people you forward the petition to, the more people will sign it and we'll reach our goal of 40,000 signatures!
And don't forget to donate to our public option fund at FDL since Nyceve, Jane, I, and others are working hard night and day on this issue for us all!