Guess who's still holding out on his support for the healthcare reform bill?
One day after he single-handedly killed off a provision to expand Medicare, Sen. Joseph Lieberman is still not promising to support the Democratic health reform bill -- though he told reporters Tuesday that he is getting closer.
"I'm getting to the position where I can say what I wanted to say all along, that I'm ready to vote for health care reform," he said. The Connecticut independent said he was pleased with concessions made by Democratic leadership and was hopeful that nothing additional would be added.
Emperor Joe from Aetna is still considering his options, what his next demands will be. Sen. Kennedy's CLASS Act will be next. And of course, there's always still Ben Nelson, who left last night's caucus meeting early, and told reporters that he "remained undecided." Now that he's seen how easy it is to roll Reid and the White House, what's he going to be holding out for? My guess is reducing the Medicaid subsidies, maybe in exchange for giving in on the Stupak abortion language. Or maybe he just holds out for the full Stupak Coathanger amendment, knowing that the path to 60--particularly with Lieberman and Snowe still playing coy--goes through him.