Landrieu ‘Skeptical’ of Reid Health Bill

Another Democrat today “expressed grave reservations with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s proposal for a health care reform bill that includes a compromised public health insurance option which states could choose to ‘opt out’ of,” ABC News reports.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told reporters today she remains “skeptical of what has been outlined” by the Majority Leader and has not decided whether she will vote with Democrats even to consider the bill on the Senate floor. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., has said he will vote to consider the bill, but will help Republicans filibuster it if the public option portion is not stripped on the Senate floor. Reid’s bill might not even get to the floor, however.

Landrieu made her comments after appearing at an emotional press conference with small business owners and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, an avowed supporter of the public option. The small business owners described their experiences, choosing between cutting wages for their employees or providing health insurance. An optometrist from Richmond, Va., described being a health care provider who was unable to have health insurance when his wife was pregnant with their child.

But while Landrieu said in front of TV cameras at the press conference that “doing nothing is not an option” and described how Senate Democrats’ bill will provide tax credits and change the insurance rules to help small business owners, she slipped out of the room before reporters could ask questions about her lack of support for the public option and whether that could endanger the health reform effort.

The trigger idea “got praise today from Landrieu, who cited the aims of health reform as lowering costs, providing coverage to all Americans, and making that coverage portable.”

“If we can achieve that through private market reform, that’s wonderful,” Landrieu said, expressing her preference to “reform the private market first,” before creating any sort of public health insurance option.

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California Senate: Fiorina Announcement Soon, DeVore Could Pick up DeMint Endorsement

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina “is expected to formally launch her long-awaited Republican campaign against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer sometime this week,” Congressional Quarterly reports.

She has public appearances scheduled Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, though the campaign is not disclosing at what event, specifically, she will make her announcement.

Fiorina is considered “the desired nominee by party insiders in California and Washington, D.C.”

Fiorina is being feted at a Capitol Hill-area fundraiser next month headlined by a list of notable senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Among the others Republican senators listed as hosts of the Nov. 17 event at Bistro Bis are John McCain of Arizona, whom Fiorina served as a top surrogate in the 2008 presidential race, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a leading conservative in the chamber and an ally of DeMint’s.

Her Republican primary rival could pick up a big endorsement today from Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC).

Her main rival for the GOP nomination, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, is hoping for a big announcement of his own. The DeVore campaign is hyping a conference call slated for Tuesday night hosted by the Senate Conservative Fund political action committee and featuring the PAC’s chairman, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Erick Erickson, editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com.

A release touting the conference call, which is being held to discuss the state of play in the 2010 Senate races, promises that "Sen. DeMint will announce at least one major SCF endorsement at the end of the call." The DeVore campaign is leaving the strong impression that it could be him.

It will be interesting to watch these campaigns unfold as conservative activists continue to push their candidates regardless of who the national party wants to endorse.

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Lieberman Privately Assures Reid?

Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) “has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter,” The Hill reports.

The unpredictable Democrat-turned-Independent last week publicly stated he would join Republicans in filibustering the Democratic legislation after Reid (D-Nev.) announced he had included a government-run health insurance plan in the bill.

But sources said Reid’s staff is telling liberal interest groups that Lieberman (Conn.) has assured Reid he will vote with Democrats in the necessary procedural vote to end debate, perhaps with intentions to change the bill.

“Lieberman keeps assuring Reid that he’s OK,” said one source. “But he’s one of those characters — you never know with Joe.”

But National Review provides this statement from Lieberman’s office in response to the story:

I’ve just talked to Senator Lieberman’s spokesman, Marshall Wittmann, and he says that the report "is absolutely not true." 

Wittmann says: "The suggestion reported in the Hill that Senator Lieberman has made a ‘private understanding’ on his votes on health-care reform. Senator Lieberman’s clear position is that he will  vote for the motion to proceed to the health-care bill because he supports health-care reform that will control costs and insure people who don’t have it now, but will oppose cloture on a final bill if it contains a public option."

He adds: "If you believe this story is true, you will also believe that I am replacing A Rod in game six of the Series."

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Boxer Extends Amendment Deadline on Climate Bill

Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) “tried to extend an olive branch to Republicans on climate change Monday evening, extending a deadline for them to offer amendments to her global warming legislation,” POLITICO reports.

But even as she made new advances, Boxer (D-Calif.) vowed to continue with her controversial mark-up, with or without GOP support.

“Right now it is essential we keep the process moving forward and that’s what we’ll do,” said Boxer.

The seven Republicans on the committee plan to boycott a Tuesday legislative hearing about the bill unless Boxer agrees to wait for additional economic analysis of the bill. As part of their boycott, none of the seven Republicans on the committee offered amendments to the bill by the Monday morning deadline.

Republicans would like Boxer “to hold the legislation for several weeks until the Environmental Protection agency can do additional economic modeling of the bill.”

A separate article notes that Democrats “submitted amendments to the legislation Monday morning, including a request by Baucus that would create a lower, 17 percent target for greenhouse gas reductions if international negotiators fail to achieve consensus around a global reduction goal.”

A “nuclear option” to move the bill forward is still being considered.

EPW Committee rules state that opening a markup requires one-third of the members of the committee, including two members of the minority party. But legislation can be approved by the committee with a simple majority of members, an exception Boxer could use to pass her bill.

Republicans say moving forward without any GOP senators at the markup marks a major break with committee precedent.

“We call it the nuclear option,” said Matt Dempsey, spokesman for committee Republicans. “It certainly would lead to long-term ramifications in this committee if that’s the way she chose to proceed.”

Here is the response today from Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK) on Boxer’s decision to extend the amendment-filing deadline:

"We welcome Chairman Boxer’s announcement to delay today’s business meeting.  The Republicans want to have a markup of the Kerry-Boxer bill.  So the question before us is how the committee proceeds. There are five weeks until the Copenhagen meetings begin, which, according to the EPA Administrator, leaves enough time for Chairman Boxer to work with us and the EPA to conduct a full economic analysis of Kerry-Boxer.  We hope Chairman Boxer accommodates this request so we can move forward to markup with a complete analysis of Kerry-Boxer’s impact on jobs, consumers, ratepayers, families, and small businesses."

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Lincoln Meets with Obama Today

The White House says “President Obama will meet privately with Sen. Blanche Lincoln Tuesday night,” Talking Points Memo reports.

Obama and Lincoln (D-AR) will huddle in the Oval Office at 5:15, less than two hours before polls close in the critical elections in New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Lincoln is perhaps the most embattled Democrat in the Senate, and she’s been getting political pressure from both sides as she declines to tip her hand on health care.

She is one of several moderates who have had the president’s ear lately – Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) also have visited the White House recently.

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