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public option 
Mon Apr 12, 2010 at 07:00:00 AM MST
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In my professional life (such as it is) I am a 6 Sigma Black Belt. For those who don't know (most of you probably) that is a process improvement project manager. One of the tenets of Six Sigma is that you have to design the process to meet the needs of the customer, whoever that is. It is simply summed up as starting with the end goal in mind. This is applicable and important when we are talking about politics as well.
In the middle of policy fights, it is easy to get narrowly focused on the minutiae of the policy itself, while losing sight of the overall goals. This is even more of a problem when one does not have an overall set of goals in the first place.
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Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 14:37:04 PM MST
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Activists are disappointed (to put it lightly) that health insurance legislation, and not health care reform, passed after a year of intense debate and discussion at the highest levels of government. A few solidly progressive items made it through the process; many more did not. Among those that did not is a public option, to say nothing of single-payer.
Flying somewhat below the back-and-forth arguments of whether or not a public option should have been a part of the legislation and what form it might or might not take is an effort that should be lauded. Rep. Alan Grayson (D,FL-08) has a piece of legislation that accomplishes many progressive goals: H.R. 4789, the "Medicare You Can Buy Into Act". Rep. Grayson has done what many activists wish more of our elected officials would do: show some leadership.
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Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 10:05:40 AM MST
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originally titled
'no excuse for not introducing a Public Option amendment now'
but since the bill passed the house again, it is now law, so on to the next issue.
Who will introduce a stand alone Public Option?
The purpose of the Bennet Letter
http://whipcongress.com/letter...
Dear Leader Reid:
We respectfully ask that you bring for a vote before the full Senate a public health insurance option under budget reconciliation rules.
Respectfully,
Michael Bennet (D-CO), U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), U.S. Senator
Jeff Merkley (D-OR), U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown (D-OH), U.S. Senator
I hope one of these 4 senators will lead the charge and stay with the spirit of the letter they crafted.
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Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 07:58:53 AM MST
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We learned the parliamentarian sent the reconciliation bill (the "fix-it" package) back to the House this morning to fix a procedural portion. Content-wise, there may be enough votes for it the way it is. Adding the public option will likely change that, possibly defeating the whole bill.
My question for Andrew: "If all of your talk (and Sirota's on your behalf) is not grandstanding, but really about getting the public option, why not stand with Senator Michael Bennet and the rest of the Senate (and 186 national groups that support passing reconciliation without it now), and pledge to support a separate public option bill as soon as possible? A thumbs-up or thumbs-down vote on a public option-only bill would protect the rest of the goodies in the recon bill now, and might give you some bragging rights later that it was your idea (it wouldn't be, but we won't tell anyone).
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Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 07:18:57 AM MST
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Overnight last night, the Senate parliamentarian identified two provisions in the reconciliation bill that have to be fixed. Doing so means the bill will be sent back to the House for another vote.
The lefty blogosphere and radio/tv has been very active the past couple of days with the need for Senate Democrats to remain absolutely committed to defeat every amendment Republicans proposed as well as prevent any amendment from being proposed by Democrats. Surprisingly, the Senate Dems were accomplishing just that through last night's session. Over two dozen amendments were rejected.
With the parliamentarian's decision last night, the requirement against any amendments has now dissolved. The bill is headed back to the House.
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