Despite yesterday’s defeat of Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) public option health amendment in the Senate Finance Committee, he remains confident that it can be added into the final bill.
Still, by Schumer’s calculations, "not a single Democrat has said ‘I’m absolutely against the public option’." Instead, he explained, most of the party’s skeptics want the proposed government plan altered in some respect before it comes to a floor vote.
"We didn’t expect it would be this close," he said. "And there’s momentum. It’s going to keep getting better, better on the floor than in the Senate and better than in the Senate Finance Committee, and better in the conference, where the House has 70 to 100 members who say they won’t vote for anything without a public option."
Congress in Your Pocket
