What’s Next?

So what’s next? The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a final, official vote on the bill for Tuesday.  As I have been saying for weeks, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) remains the lone Republican who could provide the single vote needed to declare a small bi-partisan vote.  My bet is a positive vote because of the CBO’s optimistic report noting the total cost is cheaper than expected and the deficit will not increase – the two sticking points that Snowe said must be addressed for gaining her support. 

On the House side, expect Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) to coalesce their arguments around one of the public option plans that has been presented in the House. “While we may be rounding the bend, we’re not at the home stretch yet” said Hoyer in an admonition to his colleagues. “We still have work to do, and we’re continuing to do that work and we expect within the coming weeks to put a bill on the floor that will garner a majority of support of the Congress.” So, optimism among the House Democrats runs high.

Part of the reason why Pelosi and Hoyer have not released their own version of the bill relates to the fact that the House Democrats are still divided on how to best proceed on a public option. According to the latest whip count this week for the Democrats, 183 support a public option, 22 do not, 20 are undecided, and 30 were unavailable. What is the most telling about the whip count this week is that all 22 of the Blue Dog Democrats were among the representatives polled as voting against the public option. House Democrats did meet behind closed doors this past week to discuss how best to proceed with regard to a government funded insurance plan. According to reports, three options were unveiled.  The first option reimburses Medicare plus five percent, the second offers negotiated rates, and the third contains a possible trigger.  No consensus was reached, and Speaker Pelosi – as I noted above – requested CBO to run an analysis on all three options, fueling the notion that a public option will be included in the final House bill. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) summarized the week for House Democrats when he said they were “very close to arriving at a consensus.” But, as I have learned through the years, nothing is ever guaranteed in this city. We will have to stay tuned until next week.

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Services or its affiliates.