Sen Feingold tonight, in the strongest statement yet from a prominent progressive on the bill I have seen, expresses his frustrations with the President over the loss of the public option and real reform. He goes after the administration for not pushing hard behind the scenes for the public option even when liberal senators begged for the President to do so.
Feingold says he will vote for the current bill to get it to conference but very strongly urges the public option be inserted then. He also vows to fight for the public option in the days and years ahead. His statement below.
Many wish Feingold and others would go a step further here and leverage their votes harder for the public option. We must keep fighting on for reform.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
From the Wisconsin Democrat's press office came the following statement:
I've been fighting all year for a strong public option to compete with the insurance industry and bring health care spending down. I continued that fight during recent negotiations, and I refused to sign onto a deal to drop the public option from the Senate bill. Unfortunately, the lack of support from the administration made keeping the public option in the bill an uphill struggle. Removing the public option from the Senate bill is the wrong move, and eliminates $25 billion in savings. I will be urging members of the House and Senate who draft the final bill to make sure this essential provision is included. [Ed. Note: Emphasis ours.]
But while the loss of the public option is a bitter pill to swallow, on balance, the bill still delivers meaningful reform, and the cost of inaction is simply too high. This bill significantly expands coverage and helps protect Wisconsinites from high costs and insurance company abuses, such as denying or restricting coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The bill also improves a flawed Medicare formula that denies Wisconsin fair reimbursement rates, encourages the kind of low-cost, high-value care practiced in our state, increases access to home and community-based long-term care, and reduces federal budget deficits by $132 billion over the next decade.
...One of the prominent progressive in Congress, Feingold's statement gives voice to the frustration that many Democrats have felt when watching the health care debate unfold. The Obama White House, quite consciously, refused to draw a line around the public plan even as Senate Democrats practically begged for them to do so.