Weiner: House Will Fight for Public Option

(CBS)

As the Senate closes in on a health care bill that excludes the public option, House Democrats are gearing up for a final battle to save plans for a government-run insurance program.

"That's why you have a conference committee at the end of the day. I'm going to fight for the House position that included the public option," Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY, said on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.

President Obama said Tuesday that Democrats were "on the precipice" passing health care reform. But Senate Democrats have been forced to ditch plans for a public option and its fallback, a Medicare buy-in program, to appease moderate members in their quest for 60 votes.

Last night, liberals were handed another defeat, as an amendment that would allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from other countries was defeated, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care Reform

Weiner cited three elements of the Senate bill that he considered "problematic": lack of a public option; restrictive language on abortion rights; and a health insurance tax he says will be "opposite of the incentives we want."

"The expression is a camel is a horse produced by committee. But when it's a Senate committee it's even worse," Weiner said.

And while Democrats "can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," Weiner said liberals are reaching the "tipping point."

As "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith noted, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said it was "time to kill the Senate bill and start over." Weiner said lawmakers in the House-Senate conference committee that will be charged with reconciling the two bills should reconsider the public option still included in the House version.

"You need to contain cost. You do that with a public option. The senate says 'We want to contain cost but we don't want the public option,' and their bill is more expensive than ours."

Weiner acknowledged that the Senate bill "certainly does a lot of things" to expand coverage to uninsured Americans and safeguard against insurance company abuses, but said it doesn't have "as much cost containment as we had wanted."

[mzanony]

What is reprehensible to me about those "in judgment of Weiner" are people like Nancy Pelosi, who, 2 months before she even took her oath of office, was TELLING Americans IMPEACHMENT OF BUSHBABY WAS "OFF THE TABLE?!" yet dares point a finger at ANYONE considering her refusal to demand due recourse for our embroilment in an illegal war while Congress itself committed treason against the United States Constitution with passage of the patriot's (PATOOHEY!) act?

The other outrageously unqualified accuser is "the moral indignation" of the reichpugnican party. If Weiner had any competent PR staff, they would have scrambled to offer up to the press a "reminder montage" of pics of all the sex scandals of elected reichpugnicans over the past 10 years, including all the married TV tele-evangelists - - so as to place "poor judgment" in a much needed proper context of not only the "morality" of so-called "Christians" but the reichpugnican party's own "judgment" to:

destroy Medicare
destroy health care and all social programs for all Americans
destroy the rights of women in all aspects of life (both professional and personal)
destroy "pesky parts" of the Constitution
destroy our nation by continued support of war mongering
destroy our nation by continued support of the patriot's (PATOOHEY) act
destroy our nation's environment by letting corporations destroy our air, land and water
destroy our school system for both primary and secondary educational opportunity
destroy arts funding nationwide (both in schools and our national culture at large)
destroy the poor and lower class American by forcing them to fund tax breaks for the rich
destroy social security by privatizing it via the bankers (who so deserve our further trust)

(and) Congress's own failings to rein in abuse of due process by not only allowing federal judges to commit blatantly illegal acts, but the Supreme Court involving itself in the electoral process (OVER WHICH IT HAD NO LEGAL AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER) to ensure bushbaby's illegal "election."

Weiner's wiener should be the least of our worries as a nation - compared to ALL the above ATROCITIES THAT EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN is "exposed" to daily - - thanks to such abysmal behavioral examples exhibited by all these other elected representatives!

[toddlarado]

Weiner is FULL OF IT TOO. He will sell out in the End just to sign a bill by Christmas. People should be outraged that we will be forced to buy insurance from the very same companies that have been robbing us for so long.

[toddlarado]

Anthony Weiner will sell out just like the rest of them. 2010 needs to be 3rd party time.

[johnpatrick1]

Capitalism as practiced in the United States is of and for the Rich and the Connected at the expense of the People betrayed...time to have a Revolution as Jefferson stated to clean out the Corrupted and Venal American Royalty.Corporations and far tooooo many SWINISH Congressman sleep in the same bed at the expense of the Citizenry..the old we've got ours and screw the Little People....wave the flag and go to Afghanistan/Iraq or have you and your wife work at lowpaying dead end jobs.......forever. What a hell of a Nation we have become.

[johnpatrick1]

Screw the Republicans and tar and feather the Traitor Lieberman...use the 51 vote option and ram this necessary bill home for the sake of 47,000,000 Americans withouth Health Care....some 18,000 Americans die each year due to a lack of Health care as reported by the New England Journal of Medicine.STOP THE INTERNAL TERRORISM OF THE TRAITOROUS REPUBLICAN SCUMBALL PARTY.

[velma179]

Honestly, if any of you are chess players ....

Please think about the moves in health care reform.


If you are an intelligent person who uses reason rather than getting your ideas from TV, radio, websites and spam e-mails... you just might see what end game has been set up.


"Have fun with it"... look up that quote and think about how out of place it seemed ...unless... a master chess player might have said it!

[Confidential416]

Finally someone fighting for the public option! Thank you! I am so tired of the same ole politics. The republicans have made so many road blocks and refuse to work together that people begin to sour on healthcare reform. Sour? You shouldn't sour - you should get mad! Angry! When is this country going to be able to resolve anything when all they do in Washington is play politics and all to their own ends... never caring what the American people need or think! We should be on the lawns of the capital demanding our senators and congress pass a comprehensive healthcare package with a public option by end of January - Stop the politics - Do what is right for the people!

[bearkat30]

Correct. Stop the politics - Allow people to buy insurance across state lines. Force the 20 or so states that currently do not have a High Risk Pool to create one so people with pre-existing conditions get quality insurance. Enact Tort Reform and abolish community rating to lower costs.

Do what is right!

[Webster619]

I wonder what the tea baggers think of our higher education system? It includes private universities with a PUBLIC university "option." And we have the best higher education system in the world. What about our public police force? fire protection? roads? military? how many tea baggers are making use of the public k-12 education? libraries? I suppose these are all "socialist" too.

At the end of the day we have a health care system funded by insurance companies that have the goal of not insuring sick people. Sick people (people that generate $2000+ in health care expenses a year) are "costs" in the eyes of health care companies. They cannot make a profit on them. Their goal is not to provide them with insurance. Publicly traded, billion dollar companies have one goal, maximize profits. How is a health care system that has no interest in insuring sick people good?

I guess the tea baggers on here are OK with that.

[rickwar]

This "battle" is much more that Democrats against Republicans, it's about who will continue to accept the largest maounts of money from the medical/insurance complex.

It does not matter what we want at all. It's about what the corporations want and who in the senate and house have their hands out.

The point being proven here: We have the best government money can buy.

And we are paying for all of it, in insurance costs, taxes,medical costs and waste.

Forget about being on the right or the left, forget about if you are for or aginst medical reform, public option, all of it, and focus what's really happening here. The buyout of elected representatives on both sides in wholesale numbers.

What has become clear during this debate: They really don't care about us, they only care about the money needed to get re-elected.

[Tiddah]

I say if you can get a bill that covers 30 million more people, eliminates preconditions, anti trust laws for insurance companies, and promotes preventive care let's do it now. Think about it people if we don't get something now who's to say we will get anything better later. Also remember its not over yet they still have the house version to contend with then we will see what is in the FINAL bill. You guys are all complaining about a step in the process we still have another to go. After the final bill passes, congress can go back and make changes to it it does not even go into effect til 2013. It is entirely possible that in another year or so we can get congress to add the public option to it if it is what the majority of people want.

[endurorob_5]

Add a public option in another year or so? In another year the dems will not have enough majority in the senate to pull off any progressive insanity.

[velma179]

by endurorob_5 December 16, 2009 2:50 PM EST
Add a public option in another year or so? In another year the dems will not have enough majority in the senate to pull off any progressive insanity.


*******************

Oh, I wouldn't count on that. Especially now.

Forest meet trees....