Liveblogger alert! Healthcare-palooza this week.

Daily Kos Staff

Sunday June 21, 2009 · 4:14 PM PDT

2009/06/21 · 16:14

Health care hearings are the order of the week in committee for the next few days. Livebloggers and other enthusiasts, you should be thinking about making use of the diaries here and at Congress Matters for covering all the action. And there's plenty of it.

House

Committee	Date	Time	Purpose	View Online?
Energy & Commerce	Tue., 6/23	9:30 a.m.	Subcommittee on Health: Health Care Reform Draft Proposal, Day 1	Yes
Education & Labor	Tue., 6/23	12:00 p.m.	The Tri-Committee Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform	Yes
Energy & Commerce	Wed., 6/24	9:30 a.m.	Full Committee: Health Care Reform Draft Proposal, Day 2	Yes
Ways & Means	Wed., 6/24	10:00 a.m.	Health Reform in the 21st Century: Proposals to Reform the Health System	Yes
Energy & Commerce	Thu., 6/25	9:30 a.m.	Subcommittee on Health: Health Care Reform Draft Proposal, Day 3	Yes

Senate

Committee	Date	Time	Purpose	View Online?
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions	Mon., 6/22	3:00 p.m.	Business meeting to continue consideration of Affordable Health Choices Act, subcommittee assignments, and any pending nominations	Yes

There's still no solid plan for getting to the public option in the Senate HELP bill that I can see, though its proponents maintain they have every intention of bringing it forward for consideration. That's a far cry from starting out with it in the chairman's mark, of course, which is where it should have started.

That makes the House bill the only current lifeline for a serious public option at the moment. And we know how the story goes when the House is the only lifeline for something that faces stiff opposition in the Senate.

When the issue was FISA (and yes, I'll keep coming back to that), the President was able to get his way by flatly stating that he would sign no bill that didn't have the elements he demanded, and it scared the pants off of everybody.

Frankly, a bill that leaves us in the hands of the private insurers -- and in fact shackles us to them by mandating that everyone buy their product -- is worse than the status quo, and ought to be refused by this president just as the last one refused FISA compromise.

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