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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Health Rockefeller Public Option Amendment Defeated; Schumer-Cantwell Amendment Now Being Debated

Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 12:02 PM

The effort by Senator John Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) to get a public option added to the Finance Committee's proposed health insurance reform bill just went down in flames.

Next: the separate effort by Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) to do the same thing.

Watch it live here.

As I saw it, Cantwell wasn't at the hearing when the vote on Rockefeller's amendment happened (the camera just showed Cantwell's empty chair). But I assume she'll be back in her seat to vote on the amendment she's sponsoring with Schumer. (And, update, the NYT's Prescriptions blog says Cantwell voted for the Rockefeller amendment even if she wasn't in her seat at the time, and Cantwell's office tells me that although Cantwell wasn't on camera, she was in the hearing room and standing behind Sen. Blanche Lincoln when she voted yes.)

Also, hat tip to Publicola, which caught Prescriptions blogging this praise for Cantwell during debate over the Rockefeller amendment:

A nod to Ms. Cantwell | 12:27 p.m. Mr. Schumer is giving a tutorial in why there is so little competition in the insurance marketplace. Along the way, he gives a nod to Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, whom he calls “the unsung hero” of the bill for her amendment on costs, which will be brought up later.

Comments (4) RSS

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Just do single payer national health care and stop whining.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 29, 2009 at 12:07 PM

Wow, nice fighting for us Cantwell. And oh the coordination between liberals is outstanding what with two different public option bills and some senators supporting one not even showing up for the vote on the other one.

Just outstanding leadership all over on this public option thing. Soon we will be joining the ranks of _ _ ____________________ and other nations with this well tested public option option!

(there are none, can you guess why?)

Posted by 100% pissed off because they don't even try on September 29, 2009 at 12:09 PM