Tag: public option
Bennet tells potential donors he’s still committed to public option
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet has come under fire in the wake of House passage of health reform legislation for seeming to waffle on his commitment to the public health insurance option. It's up to the Senate now to pass agreed-upon fixes to the bill by offering amendments. Bennet has made a splash in the last month by championing a plan to reinsert a public option into the bill and now would seem the time to do it. But Democratic lawmakers are wary of overreaching in the next week and opening up the process to complications that could foil their careful plan to reshape the bill.
How reconciliation irons out the House and Senate health bills
Democratic leaders pushing health care reform this year like to argue that a vast majority of the proposals represent uncontroversial changes backed by most Capitol Hill lawmakers. And while that might be true, it hasn’t prevented some sharp disagreements between House and Senate Democrats over a handful of high-profile reform provisions.
Poll: Markey right, Gardner wrong on health reform
In the wake of a Congressional Budget Office report finding that current health reform legislation would cut the deficit by $138 billion in ten years, Colorado Fourth District U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey confirmed that she planned to vote to pass the legislation this weekend. State Rep. Cory Gardner, the GOP frontrunner seeking to unseat Markey in November, wasted no time blasting her for the decision.
YouTube of the week: Grayson’s other public option
It has been a week since Florida Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, aghast with the shenanigans on Capitol Hill, took matters into his own...
Final push: Public-option support groups pressure Pelosi
In the eye of the health reform storm, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been backing away from the public health insurance option...
Mark ‘31’ Udall: Colo.’s senior Senator backs Bennet push for public...
Last night lefty blogs lit up with the news that Colorado's Sen. Mark Udall, after weeks of silence on the issue, threw in with...
Bennet’s public option supporters mystified by Udall’s ‘weird’ silence
A trio of groups that has been rallying support for the public option health insurance plan is puzzled over the fact the Colorado Democratic...
Bennet wins Reid’s support for public option push
Greg Sargent has the scoop:
"Senator Harry Reid’s office says that if a final decision is made to pass health reform via reconciliation, the Majority...
Poll: Bennet right on the public option; Norton wrong
U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton railed against Sen. Michael Bennet this week for a letter he wrote in favor of passing health reform legislation...
Bennet dismisses Romanoff campaign finance challenge
DENVER-- U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and his Democratic primary rival Andrew Romanoff met for a debate in Denver last night. There wasn't much debate. The main area of disagreement came when Romanoff challenged Bennet to decline to accept Political Action Committee, or special interest, campaign money. The challenge was expected. Romanoff, who has lagged seriously behind Bennet in fundraising for half a year, announced in January that he was eschewing PAC money. The campaign had returned PAC money it received in the fall. Bennet dismissed the challenge on stage and he dismissed it more fully in comments he made to the Colorado Independent after the debate ended. He characterized the challenge as not fully considered and opportunistic. He also said it was unrealistic, given the price tag of a political race where Republican rivals were unlikely to voluntarily limit their fundraising abilities.