In the last few weeks, more and more senators have lined up to support the public option in the health care debate. With reconciliation apparently on the table, and only 51 votes now required (imagine that, majority rules, huh... about that Comet...) it appears that there is at least a shot that we get a public option.
However, I'm of the opinion that the Dems finally got smart and brought it in as something to trade away. On one hand, not thrilling. On the other, at least they've learned the lesson of the stimulus and figured out that you don't start negotiating at the price you're hoping for.
Huff PostChris Dodd is going to move ahead with Financial Reform without Republican support. Finally, some issues just couldn't be worked out and so Dodd, nearing the end of his Senate career, is going to use (gasp!) his own majority to pass the much-needed reforms. Which actually take us back to before 1999 when regular banking and risky casino-like maneuvers were kept separate by the Glass-Steagall Act.
The public option faces its last stand. With more than 40 senators publicly willing to vote for a health care reform reconciliation package that includes the option, the opportunity to reinsert it into the final bill has never been greater, though the battle is nearly over without having been fought.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democrat in charge of rounding up votes for the health care reconciliation bill, said on Thursday that he will whip support for whatever package comes through the House. With 50 Democratic votes, Vice President Joe Biden could then break the tie and send the bill directly to the White House.
MarketWatch
After months of trying to get Republican support for tougher regulations to prevent the next global financial crisis, Sen. Chris Dodd has decided to move ahead with or without bipartisan backing.
Dodd desperately wants a financial reform bill as a capstone to his 36-year career in Washington. But his lengthy negotiations with his Republican counterparts Richard Shelby and Bob Corker had produced little agreement, just headlines.
Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announced Thursday that he would present his own bill to his committee on Monday. The banking committee -- with 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans -- will likely vote on the bill next week.
Dodd's decision to abandon an endless quest to reach a bipartisan deal may make it more likely that Congress will actually enact legislation this year to rein in the worst of the abuses that helped lead the global economy to the brink.
The more Dodd negotiated with Shelby and Corker, the more watered-down the bill became. Each compromise with the Republicans made it less likely that the House of Representatives -- remember them? -- would go along.
The last straw may have been when Corker demanded that any consumer protection agency would not only have to be toothless, but it would also have to be run by the Federal Reserve, the omnipotent agency that utterly failed to protect consumers, the banks or the economy during the housing bubble.
The path to landing a final bill on President Barack Obama's desk will still be complicated. Dodd will have to clear the bill out of his own committee and then find at least one Republican in the 100-member Senate to help him overcome the inevitable filibuster. And then he'll have to compromise with the House.
By all accounts, the Republicans negotiated in good faith. But there were some issues that just couldn't be compromised. It is time to act.
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