Lieberman:
"We have got to stop adding to the bill. We have got to start subtracting some controversial things. I think the only way to get this done before Christmas is to bring in some Republicans who are open minded on this, like Olympia Snowe."
When asked what has to be done in order to do that, Lieberman responds "You got to take out the Medicare buy-in, you got to forget about the public option, you probably have to take out the "class act", which is a whole new entitlement program and in future years will put us further in the deficit and you got to adopt some of the cost containment provisions that will strengthen cost containment that all of us favor.
If you did that you'd have an enormous accomplishment. Thirty million Americans that can't afford insurance today, would get it. Insurance companies would be more aggressive to be regulated and costs would be bent down.
So, it is time to get reasonable."
Then Ben Nelson goes on to explain why he cannot support Reid's bill as is.
Harry Reid needs both these men OR two Republicans to bypass a Republican filibuster and both these Senators say they will support a Republican filibuster.
NYT:
But on Sunday, Mr. Lieberman told the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, to scrap the idea of expanding Medicare and abandon any new government insurance plan or lose his vote.
On a separate issue, Mr. Reid tried over the weekend to concoct a compromise on abortion that would induce Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, to vote for the bill. Mr. Nelson opposes abortion. Any provision that satisfies him risks alienating supporters of abortion rights.
In interviews on the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Nelson said the bill did not have the 60 votes it would need in the Senate.
Another centrist Democrat is also on the fence making it harder for Reid to obtain the votes needed.
Via The Hill:
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said she would not vote for any bill that doesn't reduce the deficit and bring down healthcare costs.
If those two criteria aren't met, "we'll have to go back to the drawing board," she said.
Even more worrisome is we have Democratic politicians admitting to being "in the dark" about Reid's piecemeal deal.
Mr. McCAIN. Could I ask my friend about the situation as it exists right now? Right now, no Member on this side has any idea as to the specifics of the proposal the majority leader, I understand, has sent to OMB for some kind of scoring. Is that the way we want to do business, that a proposal that will be presented to the Senate sometime next week and voted on immediately--that is what we are told--is that the way to do business in a bipartisan fashion? Should we not at least be informed as to what the proposal is the Senate majority leader is going to propose to the entire Senate within a couple days? Shouldn't we even know what it is?
Mr. DURBIN. I would say to the Senator from Arizona, I am in the dark almost as much as he is, and I am in the leadership. The reason is, because the Congressional Budget Office, which scores the managers' amendment, the so-called compromise, has told us, once you publicly start debating it, we will publicly release it. We want to basically see whether it works, whether it works to continue to reduce the deficit, whether it works to continue to reduce the growth in health care costs.
We had a caucus after this was submitted to the Congressional Budget Office, where Senator Reid and other Senators who were involved in it basically stood and said: We are sorry, we can't tell you in detail what was involved. But you will learn, everyone will learn, it will be as public information as this bill currently is on the Internet. But the Congressional Budget Office has tied our hands at this point putting it forward. Basically, what I know is what you know, having read press accounts of what may be included.
Mr. McCAIN. Could I ask my friend from Illinois--and by the way, I would like to do this again. Perhaps when he can get more substance into many of the issues.
Mr. DURBIN. Same time, same place tomorrow?
Mr. McCAIN. I admit these are unusual times. But isn't that a very unusual process, that here we are discussing one-sixth of the gross national product; the bill before us has been a product of almost a year of sausage-making. Yet here we are at a position on December 12, with a proposal that none of us, except, I understand, one person, the majority leader, knows what the final parameters are, much less informing the American people. I don't get it.
Mr. DURBIN. I think the Senator is correct, saying most of us know the fundamentals, but we do not know the important details behind this. What I am saying is, this is not the choice of the majority leader. It is the choice of the Congressional Budget Office. We may find that something that was sent over there doesn't work at all, doesn't fly. They may say this is not going to work, start over. So we have to reserve the right to do that, and I think that is why we are waiting for the Congressional Budget Office scoring, as they call it, to make sure it hits the levels we want, in terms of deficit reduction and reducing the cost of health care.
It is frustrating on your side. It is frustrating here. But I am hoping, in a matter of hours, maybe days, we will receive the CBO report.
GOP response was given on Face The Nation as well, from the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.
Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, McConnell said the Democrats cannot agree on what should or should not be included in the bill, such as more restrictive language on abortion, disability insurance, a public option. or a Medicare buy-in. "It's noteworthy that you had to have three Democrats on to explain the Democratic position," he told "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer. "There are more Democratic positions than you'd find in a stack of newspapers, [and] therein lies the problem."
In the meantime, Democrats want to "punish" Joseph Lieberman for not simply going along with his former party.
Amazing.
They don't want politicians to actually think for themselves, listen to the people, do what they think is right. Nope, they want politicians that are robotic lapdogs and will vote exactly how party leaders command them to vote.
If they dare think for themselves.... punish them!!!
I bet at this time, Joseph Lieberman is very glad he is an Independent and not one of those lapdogs.
Fact is Democrats love to hate Joe Lieberman, a man that lost his Democratic primary, had Democrats turn on him, then decided to run as an Independent and win the Connecticut election because Connecticut voters rejected the Democratic party's choice of a far left candidate.
Washington Monthly makes a long story short with their analysis:
The nation needs a health care bill. If it includes a public option, it can't overcome a Republican filibuster and the bill dies. If it doesn't include a public option, it can't overcome opposition from the left and the bill dies. Countless Americans will continue to suffer; costs will continue to soar; the public will perceive Democrats as too weak and incompetent to act on their own agenda; the party will lose a lot of seats in the midterms and possibly forfeit its majority; and President Obama will have suffered a devastating defeat that will severely limit his presidency going forward. No one will even try to fix the dysfunctional system again for decades, and the existing problems will only get worse.
So, what happens next? Your guess is as good as mine.
Emphasis mine.
The problem with that is that White House officials have already said the "public option" was never meant to become the major focal point of healthcare.... it was progressive liberals that made it their Waterloo.
"I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo," said a senior White House adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We've gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is health-care reform."
"It's a mystifying thing," he added. "We're forgetting why we are in this."
Another top aide expressed chagrin that a single element in the president's sprawling health-care initiative has become a litmus test for whether the administration is serious about the issue.
"It took on a life of its own," he said.
Ironic huh?
.