The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : House Progressive Leader Says Government Plan "Vital" to Health Care Reform

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

House Progressive Leader Says Government Plan "Vital" to Health Care Reform

By Philip Klein on 10.13.09 @ 5:59PM

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, co-chairman of the 80-member House Progessive Caucus, reiterated his position that any health care legislation needs to include a government plan to be meaningful.

Asked to react to the passage of the Senate Finanance Committee bill earlier today, Grijalva's office emailed me the following statement, attributed to the congressman:

"While I applaud the Finance Committee for completing its work on the bill, I remain concerned that it does not include a robust public option. I remain committed to getting the best bill in the House that we can get so that we have a strong negotiating position in conference. Today's Senate action does not reflect the country's high approval ratings for a public option, and I believe that any meaningful health care reform must include that vital element to increase access and bring down costs."

This raises a few questions. Could liberals insist that a House bill includes a government plan, but ultimately compromise when the bill is being reconciled with the Senate version? And will Blue Dogs stay united to block liberals from even being able to get a government plan passed in the House?

View all comments (2) | Leave a comment

Ken (Old Texican)| 10.13.09 @ 6:57PM

The communists are going to pass something.

It will be hidden in the legal gibberish. Following 2010 we must REPEAL the whole mess....or die as free Americans.

Dixie Pixie| 10.13.09 @ 7:55PM

I have a question for the TAS Online legal beagles. Is the Baucus Bill legal.
Consider if the wording of the final Bill out of Senator Reid's office and the Bill voted out of the committee has significant differences then can it be said the bill was legally voted out of the committee. Another issue is if a Bill comes out of the Senate that has wording that differs from that the Senate voted on is the Law legal????

To: Ken ( Old Texican )
Good luck with that idea. If I am right and Obama-Care is just a asset stripping scam to replace the money stream from the failing Social Security Ponzi scam, then the health care system will fail before a major political correction can occur. The current health care system is far more fragile than most people realize.

Look on the bright side, there will soon be a market for home surgery kits and a booming black market for health drugs.