This morning Mike Lux wrote about a movement he's seen from the White House to push progressive groups to accept a public option trigger as the only way to get Olympia Snowe's support. Mike wrote:
Some senior White House staffers are now beginning to try to sell this trigger to progressive groups as the compromise version of a public option, saying the White House doesn’t want to have a floor fight in the Senate, and that they can always fix it in conference committee. That way they can pick up Snowe, satisfy that desperate urge for being officially bipartisan (even though Snowe can’t bring a single other Republican with her), and not have to worry about procedural hassles in the Senate.
Greg Sargent followed up with another progressive leader, Roger Hickey at the Campaign for America's Future:
He seemed to agree with Lux’s claim. "It appears to me that the White House is not trying for any other strategy accept to satisfy Snowe with her version of the trigger," he said.
To repeat: This may not be correct. But it’s worth noting, because it’s coming from fairly well-known D.C. liberals. I’ll update you as soon as I have more.
There are a couple more data points on this development, one coming directly from the White House. The first comes from a reader here in Washington State, who forwarded this e-mail he got from OFA, which reads in part:
The opponents of reform understand this, and they are doing all they can to bury this last bill in committee, before it can be amended and voted on by the Senate as a whole. The stakes are too high and we've come too far to let that happen. We need to pass a reform bill out of the Finance Committee and that comes down to just a few critical senators -- including yours, Senator Maria Cantwell....
Senator Cantwell has worked hard on health care issues for years, and has a long track record to be proud of. By helping to move the reform process out of committee, Senator Cantwell can once again play a critical role in bringing us towards the day when every American enjoys the quality, affordable care we all deserve.
The bill currently under consideration isn't perfect. But two weeks ago, in his address to Congress, President Obama reminded us all that while there are many details still unresolved, for the millions of Americans without insurance and the millions more who could lose their coverage at any time, failure is not an option. The crucial next step forward is passing reform in the Senate Finance Committee, and that may come down to Senator Cantwell -- and you.
After months of shared effort, a milestone in the struggle for reform is within reach -- and we can't let special interests and their lobbyists have the last word now.
Maria Cantwell is one of two Democrats, joining Rockefeller, who has vowed not to vote for a bill without a public option. So OFA is asking their members to call Senate Finance Committee members and tell them to vote for a bill, even an imperfect one. You could argue that they are just focusing on getting a bill out of committee to push this, but for the second, more disturbing, development.
This one comes from the White Housem via BTD at TalkLeft, Peter Orzag tells Bloomberg that a trigger or a co-op would be acceptable.
Congress will likely complete a health-care bill within six weeks, and a measure being drafted by the Senate Finance Committee may provide the basis for final legislation, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said. "The goal would be, yes, over next six weeks or so, maybe sooner," Orszag said in an interview as the finance panel headed by Montana Democrat Max Baucus began revising the measure, President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
Orszag signaled the administration doesn’t consider a government-run insurance program essential to the legislation. He suggested it would be sufficient to either create nonprofit insurance-purchasing cooperatives or set "triggers" to activate a public option if needed to cut costs.
First, six weeks or so puts us past the October 15 deadline for including any healthcare reform component in reconciliation. Second, the Snowe trigger is not a public option alternative, it's a public option killer. And Peter Orszag might be the only person on earth, besides Kent Conrad, who thinks a cooperative would really work to cut healthcare costs.
Does Olympia Snowe really hold all the cards on healthcare reform for the White House?
Update: Sam Stein has a post detailing several prominent Dems and progressives who say they have not been pressured by the White House:
[G]roups and individuals who communicate regularly with the administration on health care matters insist that they have not been pushed recently to get comfortable with the trigger. And so did the White House itself.
"The story about us reaching out to groups is not accurate," an administration official told the Huffington Post.
As of yet, there has been no walk-back or clarification on Orszag's statements. So the messages remain mixed.