The stage is set. The bloc of progressive House members yesterday delivered a letter to the White House that reiterated their commitment to a public option in any legislation that addressed healthcare reform.
"Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, a public option built on the Medicare provider system and with reimbursement based on Mediare rates - not negotiated rates - is unacceptable," reads the letter, which was sent over by a source. It was signed by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Raul Grijalva, the two leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
"A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs," the letter continues. "We cannot vote for anything less."
There's been a lot of talk from some - like Senator Baucus - that reform won't, can't, include the public option. Well, now it's obvious that reform can't not include the public option either.
Ezra Klein expressed doubt around the strategy of a progressive bloc demanding, you know, actual reform in the bill. The centrists, he opined, don't care if a bill gets passed:
The reason the Blue Dogs have a reputation for being happy to let the world burn is that they really, really, really are willing to let the world burn, let health care fail, let cap-and-trade die, let Iraq grind on. The reason liberals have a reputation for not wanting to let the world burn is that all the anti-burn initiatives under discussion are, in fact, items from their agenda. They really, really, really don't want the world to burn.
The centrists have all the advantage, right? Well, not so much. FDL's scarecrow reminds Klein that there are more important players in the game:
The Progressive strategy is to stop being the patsy for a compromising White House, while genuine reform is given away yet again. So this not about playing chicken with Mike Ross. Even if it's true that some Blue Dogs don't care whether we get health reform -- and I believe many do care -- the point is that the White House cares. And they care not so much about genuine reform but about not being seen as losers, because that means this is a one-term, failed Presidency.
The Progressives' clear-eyed strategy says that a winning Presidency depends on demanding and fighting for real reforms. And if the White House can't see that, the progressives are telling this President that they won't be used again if the White House acts as if it only cares about itself.
That's the point, isn't it? And that's the message for Emmanuel, and Max Baucus, too - even if he doesn't understand it yet. Instead of trying to water down the bill to make it palatable for Chuck Grassley, he needs to start building support for a public option within his own party. He sits as the chair of one of the most powerful committees in the Senate, he should start using that power to get people in line - if not to support the public option, then, at least, not to filibuster any bill that includes it.
Here's the thing: we are doing everything we can to make sure reform includes a public option, and to kill anything without it. That's the reality. That's the topography of this political fight.
So let's not hear any more bullsh*t about how you can't get the public option through the Senate. It's your job to make it happen, one way or another. |
