Well, it's done. 13-10, the Schumer amendment failed. As did the Rockefeller amendment. Public option will not be in the Senate Finance Committee bill.
Baucus says we can't have a public option because it won't get 60 votes. Since when did a vote that required only a simple majority need a full 60 votes? And by not voting for it, isn't it a self-fulfilling prophecy that it won't get 60? With him and Conrad, it would get probably 53 or 54 votes, and could bring 6 more if they saw the line move. Conrad actually liked the Schumer amendment, and was closer to the model he would like to see. So why doesn't he offer that version of Schumer's amendment on his own? And bottom line: if everyone knows the House bill will have a public option in it, as does the HELP committee version, and all these bills will be reconciled in Conference, why are Conrad and Baucus not willing to except that most of their colleagues favor it, especially when 65% of the public want a public option???
I just don't get it. These senators have a long way to go in justifying, in my mind, why they decided that 65% of the people can't get what they want, and how they arrived at that decision today.