Hoyer: House Will Accept Public Option-Free Bill [View All]

[jefferson_dem]

Hoyer: House Will Accept Public Option-Free Bill

House Democrats can't always get what they want, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters today. But if they spin it right, he said, they just might find they got what they need.

Faced with a likely public option-free health care reform bill from the Senate, Hoyer said House Democrats will vote to move the reform process forward without government-run insurance included.

Much as his colleagues in the Senate Democratic leadership did last night, Hoyer said the political reality in the Senate means Democrats have to look past things like the public option to the "guts" of the bill itself.

" Reid has does not have the votes for a public option, obviously," Hoyer said. "In a world of alternatives, you have to take what you can get."

Though they may have to sacrifice the public option in order to craft a reform package acceptable to the the fickle Senate Democratic coalition, Hoyer said House Democrats still reserve the right to tinker with the carefully-crafted Senate compromise, whatever it may be.

"Just take the Senate bill? That's not gonna happen," Hoyer said. "There are key differences between the Senate proposal and ours and we'll just have to work that out."

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