Today’s meeting of the Senate Finance Committee is beginning now and you can learn everything you need to know about it from Congress Matters. Today is the day that the committee will debate the public option. CA Berkeley WV puts us on notice:
WARNING: The push for the public option, those amendments listed below, starts today. Sen. Cantwell, Rockfeller and Schumer laid down the groundwork last week. The votes of Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) may be hazardous to your forehead.
I assume that the chairman (Baucus) will vote against these amendments. I assume that Kent Conrad will vote against them. Whether Lincoln and Carper follow suit, I don’t know. I’d also keep my eye on Menendez. He voted against letting the government negotiate the bulk purchasing of drugs for Medicare D. I had not expected him to be such a weasel, but he’s in charge of the DSCC now, and his state has a lot of drug-makers. He should be solid on the public option, but you never know.
In order for the public option to pass through Finance, no more than one Democrat can vote against it. Conrad will be the first ‘no’ vote (because the chairman votes last). The suspense will build when Lincoln votes. If she says ‘aye’ it will go to Menendez. If he votes ‘aye’ it will go to Carper. If he votes ‘aye’ it will be up to Baucus, and he won’t be able to argue that the option couldn’t get through his committee.
You should be able to watch it here.
