Internal House Whip Count Numbers Show Strong Support For Public Option

[babylonsister]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/internal-house-whip-count-numbers-show-strong-support-for-public-option/

Internal House Whip Count Numbers Show Strong Support For Public Option


I’ve just been sent some new numbers from the internal whip count House Dems are doing on the public option, and they show that support for it is still running strong, though the numbers suggest the strongest version of it may prove out of reach.

Specifically: House progressive leaders have been counting up how many members — beyond just progressives — will support the strongest version of the public option, i.e., the one tied to Medicare rates plus five percent.

The number so far, a source familiar with the count tells me: 170 firm supporters. That’s way beyond the 83 members of the House who make up the Congressional Progressive caucus.

What’s that mean for the public option? Well, the bill needs 218 votes to pass. That means it needs another 48 Dems to get on board, out of another 61 Dems who are presumed gettable — 23 Dems who are undecided, and another 38 who have not yet been asked their position, or “whipped.”

Absent having a list of names, it’s hard to tell who’s stilll up for grabs, and getting 48 more could be tough, because leaders may have counted the most liberal members first. “There aren’t enough moderate Democrats in the House that will vote for a public option tied to Medicare rates,” one aide to a moderate Dem told me.

Maybe, but it’s still going to be close. And at the very least, the strong support demonstrated by the numbers will keep the pressure on the House leadership to keep the public option — in a less robust form, perhaps — in the bill.

[DesertFlower]

1. IMO all dems should be voting for

the public option. of course, i guess many of them are taking money from special interests.

[denverbill]

2. I wonder if we could buy votes for the public option by offering a processing center or two.

Would Baucus or Landrieu vote for it if it meant 1,000 good-paying government jobs for their state? Or 2,000?

[renate]

3. Boehner says he hasn't met a single person who supports the public option

yet he is surrounded by at least 170 of them at his job. What exactly does he do all day?

[babylonsister]

4. He's a lyin' liar. nt

[unblock]

6. he doesn't see them from his vantage point up his own ass.

[MarjorieG]

5. Medicare rates are low, so why not fix those and still have better than level playing field.