Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this afternoon that he plans to push ahead with a public health insurance option that includes an opt-out provision for states – even though he’s currently short several votes for passage, according to people close to the situation.
“It’s the fairest way to go,” Reid said at a news conference, where he said he’ll send the state opt-out plan to the Congressional Budget Office. States would have until 2014 to opt out.
Reid, who spoke with virtually every member of his 60-member caucus this weekend, currently has between 56 and 57 votes for a proposal to create a national insurance plan but allow states to opt out of it, according to Democratic aides.
But Reid said he will not send the “trigger” option to the CBO — which endangers the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who has not signed on to the opt-out idea. Snowe wants a public insurance option to kick in only if private insurers don’t expand coverage fast enough.
Asked about Snowe’s lack of support, Reid said: “We are going to have to move forward on this.”
A public option with a “trigger” – supported by the White House and Snowe – has between 58 and 59 backers. It could be floated as an alternative if the opt-out measure fails to obtain the 60 votes needed for cloture, sources said.
Reid worked most of the weekend, convening several meetings with his leadership – and wrangling over the details with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Reid is expected to send the public option proposal to the Congressional Budget Office on Monday, and discuss the strategy Tuesday with the Democratic caucus.
Reid’s announcement marks a significant turnaround for the public option after showing little life through the late summer – and a victory for progressive activists, who have been relentless in pressuring lawmakers.
Reid’s decision comes at a time when many in the midst of the Senate negotiations are expressing frustration that the White House hasn’t articulated a clear preference for what form a public option should take — or even if the public plan is a pre-condition of any deal.
Late Sunday, in response to reports of sniping, Obama’s Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted a blog entry in the White House Web site claiming that “rumors” Reid and Obama were pushing different plans were “absolutely false.”
“Senator Reid and his leadership team are now working to get the most effective bill possible approved by the Senate. President Obama completely supports their efforts and has full confidence they will succeed and continue the unprecedented progress that is being made in both the House and Senate,” Pfeiffer wrote on the White House blog.
Pfeiffer’s comments come after a week in which liberals worried that Obama was trying to steer Reid away from his plan to round up votes for a public option that would allow states to “opt-out” of offering the plan. Obama reportedly prefers a public option that would be triggered only if the private insurance market fails. On Friday, MoveOn asked its members to call the White House and tell the president to oppose the trigger.
In a hastily called Oval Office meeting Thursday, Reid presented his idea for a state “opt-out” to a skeptical Obama, who didn’t balk at the idea but questioned whether Reid could truly round up enough votes, according to two sources familiar with the Oval Office meeting. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday that Reid is close to winning the 60 votes needed to go ahead with that plan.
Obama left the impression in the meeting that he was leaning toward the “trigger” idea floated by Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, a Democratic source said. Liberals generally oppose the trigger because there is no guarantee a public insurance plan would ever be created.
Ever since Thursday, the White House has disputed this account, saying the president did not express a preference.
But a Democratic official acknowledged last week that Obama’s line of questioning may have left such an impression with group, because he signaled skepticism that Reid could round up the votes.
The Pfeiffer comments Sunday also mark an attempt by the White House to tamp down a broader uneasiness among liberals with Obama when it comes to health reform. Some have been openly frustrated over how willing Obama has been to give up on the public option, because he said on several occasions that he doesn’t consider it a must-have in any reform legislation, as much as he personally supports it.
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