Public Option Action

The Senate Finance Committee will take up the Rockefeller and Schumer amendments which were supposed to have been debated today, on Tuesday. The reasons for the delay are unclear, but it gives us a few more days to impress upon those Democratic Senators who haven't been as helpful on creating real, comprehensive reform. As of now, we know of three public option amendments that will be offered. The first is from Rockefeller, and it fairly closely follows the public option House version, which is stronger than the Senate HELP version. The other two are from Schumer, one that would add the same language as is in the HELP bill, and one that would create a "level playing field" option, thhe weakest of the three amendments.

Make no mistake, the public option in this committee is facing an uphill climb. But it's not impossible. The second Schumer amendment is likely the only one that has much of a chance of making it out of commitee. If it should, and if all three of these amendments get at least majority support among committee members, the chances of the public option making it into the final bill out of the Senate are significantly increased. So an action effort on this is worth our while.

Jane has been in touch with Hill sources, and reports on the usual suspects of Dems on the committee.

1. Max Baucus -- has said he supports a public plan, despite the fact that his bill doesn't contain one.
2. Bill Nelson -- acknowledges that a public option would address lack of competition in the health care industry, but said he was against it, then he was "open" to it, and most recently says it must be subject to triggers. Bill Nelson -- says emerging public option is "attractive."
3. Kent Conrad -- Has always said that "there aren't enough votes for a public option," but wouldn't say if he was one of them.  Told Ezra Klein today he would only be open to one that wasn't tied to Medicare rates -- which Schumer's "level playing field" isn't.
4. Blanche Lincoln -- said in July that a public insurance option should be included in any health care bill, but since then has changed her position like some people change their hair color.
5. Tom Carper -- thinks the job of the Senate Finance Committee is to honor back room deals with PhRMA.  Won't say how he feels about a public option.

There are 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans on the committee, which means they can only lose two Democratic votes and still pass the amendment.   So, in order for a public plan to come out of Finance, three of these are going to have to get off the fence.

Contacting these, and all of the Dem members of the committee would be worth our while. It would help to remind them of a few factors:

• The CBO scoring of the House bill shows an additional $85 billion in savings over the Blue Dog version: the public option will save money and bend that cost curve.
• The public option remains popular with majorities of Americans.
• The public option is popular with swing state voters.
• In national polling, voters oppose a mandate to purchase private insurance by 64% to 34% but support a mandate with a choice of private or public insurance by 60% to 37%.

Contact info for all of them is below the fold. The focus should be on those five Jane identified: Baucus, Nelson, Conrad, Lincoln, and Carper. But if you live in any of the states represented by the Senators below, calls to them certainly won't hurt, as well as "thank you" calls to Rockefeller and Schumer, in particular, for their efforts.

Max Baucus MT (Committee Chair)
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]  

John Rockefeller WV  
e-mail
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]  

Kent Conrad ND
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Jeff Bingman NM
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
TDD [phone]
Toll Free (in NM) 1800-433-8658

John Kerry MA
e-mail
Phone [phone]  
Fax [phone]  

Blanche Lincoln AR
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Ron Wyden OR
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]  

Charles Shumer NY
e-mail
Phone:[phone]
Fax: [phone]
TDD: [phone]

Debbie Stabenow MI
e-mail
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: [phone]
TTY: [phone]

Maria Cantwell WA
e-mail
Phone: [phone]  
Fax: [phone]  
TTD: [phone]

Bill Nelson FL
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Robert Mendez NJ
e-mail
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone] fax

Thomas Carper DE
e-mail
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]