Obama writes a letter to Baucus and Kennedy.
James C. Capretta in National Review
What do the Senators think now?
The Hill on Judd Gregg:
Gregg said that the president’s letter, which said a public option should be included in the legislation, stalled “significant progress” in negotiations.
“We were making great progress up until yesterday, in my opinion,” Gregg said during an interview on CNBC. “There’s a working group under Sen. Baucus that involves senior Republican and Senate senior members who are involved in the healthcare debate, and we were, I thought, making some fairly significant progress.”
Gregg said that the president’s late-day letter to Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) had thrown up a roadblock to garnering GOP support for a final deal.
“Then the president came out with his letter that said any package has to have a public plan,” he said. “Well, the public plan’s a non-starter for us, on our side of the aisle.”
Brian Beutler at TPM on Chuck Grassley
Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim has been doing great work covering Sen. Ben Nelson’s (D-Neb.) endless flips and flops on the public health insurance plan. A few weeks ago, you might remember that Nelson was talking about forming a “coalition of like-minded centrists opposed to the creation of a public plan, as a counterweight to Democrats pushing for it.” Back then, the public plan was a “deal breaker.”
Now? He’s open to a public plan. Neat how that works. But Nelson isn’t alone. Support for the public plan seems to have elevated in a few corners. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), previously cool to the idea, is now said to be fighting “tooth and nail” for its inclusion. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), once a monosyllabic opponent (“no”), is now proclaiming himself open to the idea.
Meanwhile, the public plan’s supporter — Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and others — have organized and begun insisting, rather than merely mentioning, the idea. Liberal senators came together and signed a letter in support of the policy. The White House, which seemed relatively unsinterested in the issue a few months ago, has begun pushing hard for it.
On the broader issue of the public option:
Nick Gillespie in Reason
