Obama says public option won't be passed in reconciliation bill! That should pretty much kill it.

[Better Believe It]

The Plum LineGreg
Sargent's blog
Obama Tells Liberals Public Option Doesn’t Have Votes
March 5, 2010


In a private meeting at the White House this afternoon, Obama told a roomful of House Dems he doesn’t think the votes are there to pass the public option, and urged them to take the long view and to support the Senate bill as merely the beginning of reform, Dem Rep Lynn Woolsey tells me.

Also: Obama thanked the assembled, mostly liberals, for their ongoing insistence from the left over the months that the bill be improved, Woolsey says. “He thanked us,” she recalled. “He said the bill wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it is if we hadn’t advocated.”

Woolsey, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who was present with around seven or eight other liberals, says Obama compared the health reform fight to the passage of Social Security and Medicare.

“He was very clear: He thought this was as good as it’s going to get,” Woolsey said, referring to the plan to pass the Senate bill and fix it via reconciliation.

“He doesn’t believe the Senate has 51 votes for the public option,” Woolsey said, characterizing Obama’s remarks to the assembled.

But Woolsey says she’s now a definite Yes on the Senate bill, provided the reconciliation fix is adequate, even if it lacks a public option.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/terrorism/obama-tells-liberals-public-option-doesnt-have-votes/

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So Representative Lynn Woolsey flipped on the public option. She singing a different tune now! And it sure didn't take much for President Obama to accomplish that. Just a visit to the Oval office was enough. But, I have to wonder if Rahm "sharp elbows" Emanuel had a private discussion with her before she was marched off to the Oval office?

Does anyone care to guess what "reform fixes" will be left in a Senate reconciliation bill that can get 51 votes? I think I know the answer to that. The four Republican proposals to "fix" it that are supported by President Obama including so-called "tort reform". If anything, a "fixed" bill will be even worse than the original Senate bill!

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Lynn Woolsey Should Resign as Head of the Progressive Caucus
By: Jane Hamsher Friday
March 5, 2010

Woolsey:

“Oh I will vote against anything that does not include … and it’s got to be real. I mean, you can call it anything you want … I believe there are enough of us, among the 120 in the tri-caucus and the progressive caucus, that can stop any votes…. Any health care reform that does not include a strong, robust public option for all Americans will not be health care reform.”

Woolsey then commenced a petty battle for control of the progressive caucus (and the public option campaign). She held a press conference on June 24, claiming to represent 120 members of the quad caucus who would vote against any bill that did not have a public option:

Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California, co-chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, said the groups’ statement was unusual. Typically, leaders of the caucuses do not publicly challenge their party leadership, preferring to work behind the scenes to win concessions in legislation, she said.

“What we’re telling you this time: it’s different,” she said. “Not that we’re going to vote with Republicans. But if reform legislation comes to the floor and doesn’t include a real and robust public option, we will fight it with everything we have.”

Her statements today reflect absolutely no consciousness that she ever said anything like this, or was in any way in a leadership position on the issue. But that has been the way Woolsey has operated throughout the health care campaign.





Lynn Woolsey on Youtube: Will Not Vote for Health Care Without a Strong Public Option

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiyO9VBGhHA&feature=player_embedded