Streaming Video: Showdown on Public Option Today in Senate
Belief:
Is Belief in God Hurting America?
David Villano
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
4 Myths About Taxes, Debunked
Paul Buchheit
DrugReporter:
The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not
Jim Hightower
Environment:
White House Garden Won't Make Up for Obama's Nomination of Pesticide Lobbyist for US Chief Agriculture Negotiator
Jill Richardson
Food:
Don't Be Scared of Food: Are We Being Needlessly Hysterical About Food Safety?
David E. Gumpert
Health and Wellness:
47,000 Women Could Die As a Result of the New Mammogram Guidelines
George Lakoff
Immigration:
Hate Group, FAIR, Is Looking for "Ethnically Ambiguous" Actors to Amplify Its Racism
Adam Luna
Media and Technology:
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
Mark Ames
Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler
Politics:
Just When You Thought It Was Safe: 3 Potential Obstacles to Health-Care Reform
Adele M. Stan
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Can't We Look Away From Sarah Palin?
Vanessa Richmond
Rights and Liberties:
Murder at Guantanamo? The Mysterious, Unsolved Death of Mohammad Saleh al Hanashi
Jeffrey S. Kaye
Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders
Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick
World:
Palestinian Children Face Daily Attacks While Going to School
Mel Frykberg
SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVESTREAM VIDEO OF SENATE DEBATE
Today, the Senate Finance Committee will consider amendments that would add a public insurance plan to the committee's highly contested health-care reform bill. Committee members Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., seek to force their colleagues into an up or down vote on the public option.
As Robert Reich explains in Salon, the Finance Committee vote is a crucial juncture for the public option. Other committees have already passed bills with strong public options, but the White House has signaled that the Finance Committee’s version will get disproportionate weight in shaping the final bill that both houses of Congress will ultimately vote on.
At AlterNet, Bill Scher of Campaign for America's Future reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he won’t send a bill with a public option to the full Senate, even if the Finance Committee were to pass one. On the other hand, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that the House won’t pass a bill without one. So, there’s clearly a lot of horsetrading left to do, even if the Finance Committee approves a public option.
No one knows for sure if the senators have the vote to pass the amendments, but the the debate will be heated. Stay tuned: The Uptake is broadcasting the hearing live today, starting at 10 a.m. EST. (See video after jump.)
See more stories tagged with: health care, nancy pelosi, max baucus, sen. jay rockefeller, the uptake, public option, healthcare reform
Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at The Consortium Report and Majikthise.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
You've chosen to turn comments off for the entire site. Would you like to turn them back on?
Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.