Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's announcement last week that he might just be a vote or two Senate votes shy of having a filibuster-proof majority in favor of a public option for health insurance coverage with a provision allowing states to opt-out was a source of discussion on the Sunday. talk show circuit.
New York Democrat Charles Schumer on NBC's Meet The Press was in a particularly giddy mood, no doubt bolstered by that ABC News/Washington Post poll released last week that showed the American public, by a pretty decisive 57-40% margin, are in support of a government public health care option.
Schumer said that liberals in the body want the proposal to be stronger, others aren't sure if they like it but said they likely would not hold it up to a filibuster.
But perhaps the most conservative Senate Democrat, Nebraska's Ben Nelson said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he hasn't promised Reid and Schumer anything.
Nelson said, " I can't decide about the procedural vote until I see the underlying bill. It would be, I think, reckless to say I'll support the procedure without knowing what the underlying bill consists of. And it's not put together yet. It's a draft — it will be a draft bill some time next week, submitted the Congressional Budget Office for the review of the cost."
Nelson said he was not enthused about a public option where states would opt out, saying he'd ''look at the one where states could opt in if they make the decision themselves."
On the nature of the health care debate, Senator McCain said on Face The Nation on CBS he was 'offended' at Obama for acting in contradiction with his promises on the campaign trail that he'd conduct his discussions on health care in the sunshine and televise them on C-SPAN.
The President has been hammered on libs and conservatives for having closed door meetings with health care executives this year.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.