Mary Landrieu a "yes", now all eyes on Blanche Lincoln
It’s down to one.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hopes of pushing ahead with a sweeping health reform plan got a boost Saturday when Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said she will vote to start debate.
"My vote today to move forward on this important debate should in no way to be construed as . . .an indication of how I might vote as this debate comes to an end," she warned in comments on the Senate floor. "It is a vote to move forward. … But much more work needs to be done.”
The news first broke on the Senate Democratic Twitter feed around 12:30 p.m. “Sen Landrieu will vote yes to allow debate. . .,” it read.
That left Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) as the lone holdout and the would-be 60th vote needed to allow President Barack Obama’s vision of health reform to make its way to the Senate floor after Thanksgiving.
Democrats expect Lincoln to vote yes on the debate – and at this late stage, a no vote would be a devastating blow to Obama’s plans. But she’s been cagey, denying a comment by Sen. Dick Durbin Friday that she’d already told Reid how she’d vote.
Landrieu had telegraphed her yes vote today as the week wore on, even telling POLITICO Friday night that she was “leaning towards” voting to open the debate.
But in her comments on the floor, she outlined a long list of concerns with the current bill – including its later start date of 2014 and the inclusion of a public health insurance option, with a chance for states to “opt-out” of that plan. She expressed a preference for a “trigger” option that would allow a public plan to kick in if private insurance couldn’t expand coverage fast enough.
Some Democrats – including President Barack Obama – has signaled a preference for the trigger as a possible way to bridge deep divides in the party between liberals and moderates over the public option. And it has the support of a key Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Landrieu also was unapologetic in describing how she sought more help for her state in the health-reform negotiations – even saying reports that she got $100 million more in Medicaid dollar for Louisiana were false. It was really $300 million, she said.
“I’m proud to have asked for it. I’m proud to have fought for it, and I will continue to. That is not the reason I’m moving to the debate,” Landrieu said.
Landrieu’s announcement came as Democrats and Republican kicked off a day-long floor debate Saturday ahead of an 8 p.m. vote. Republicans called the $848 billion bill a budget-busting, tax-raising monstrosity that would hurts seniors, small business and families. Democrats accused them of scare-mongering and said the bill is a sensible and long-overdue fix to a badly broken health care system.
And both sides sparred over the nature of Saturday’s vote – with Democrats saying it’s merely a chance for debate to begin and Republicans saying it’s a back-door endorsement of the $848 billion plan.
“Senators who support this bill have a lot of explaining to do, a lot of explaining to do,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, in comments seemingly aimed at the wavering moderates Landrieu and Lincoln.
"The Democrat plan would make life harder for the vast majority of Americans. It raises their taxes, it raises their health care premiums, it cuts their Medicare and drives millions off the private insurance they currently have. When fully implemented, this plan would cost $2.5 trillion. That's the equivalent of three failed stimulus bills," McConnell said.
Reid called McConnell’s remarks “Orwellian” – suggesting he was trying to squelch a free and open debate on the merits of health reform.
“All we’re asking today is have, a debate on it. Why would anybody be afraid in the greatest debating society supposedly in the world to debate health care? What are they afraid of?” Reid said.
“The key elements of this health care reform bill, I repeat: reduces short-and-long term debt, expands coverage, promotes choice and competition, reforms the insurance market, improves quality of care,” Reid said.
He also said McConnell’s frequent warning about the health bill raising the deficit showed that “my friend, the distinguished Republican leader is living in a different world than everyone else.”
Republicans, however, hammered the theme that the bill would run big taxes and big deficits and not deliver the promised improvements to the health care system.
“The bill is just too much, goes too far, too fast, costs too much. The American people know this. That’s why they oppose this bill,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) “They’re not opposed to reform and progress. They’re opposed to this legislation.”
Reid’s bill would cover 94 percent of all Americans by creating a public health insurance option, increasing subsidies for those who can’t afford insurance and requiring individuals to own insurance. Reid would pay for the bill by raising taxes on insurers who offer so-called Cadillac tax plans, bumping up Medicare taxes for the wealthy and creating a “Botox tax” on cosmetic surgery.
The House passed its version of health reform two weeks ago – which includes a more liberal version of a public option and a millionaires tax to pay for it. The two chambers would have reconcile their bills, and Obama is trying to hold them to a strict year-end deadline to complete work.
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Sources: Politico, Google Maps
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