Dick Durbin: "I'll Whip 'Aggressively' For A Public Plan If Pelosi Includes It"

Sam Stein:

The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate said on Friday that he would "aggressively" rally votes for a public option for insurance coverage if House Democrats included the proposal in their reconciliation fixes for health care reform.

In a letter to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin's spokesman Joe Shoemaker made it "crystal clear" that his boss favors efforts to get a government-run insurance plan into law. But, echoing remarks the Illinois Democrat made to the Huffington Post, Shoemaker writes that the onus lies with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

If House Democrats include a public plan in the reconciliation bill they craft to "fix" the Senate's legislation, Durbin will work hard to make sure the provision (as part of the reconciliation package) has the votes for passage. If it's not in that reconciliation package, he won't lift a finger. In fact, he will work against efforts to add it as an amendment.

"Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over," Shoemaker wrote in an email that he authorized PCCC founder Adam Green to make public. "Conversely, the Leaders will whip against any attempt to alter or amend the bill if the public option is not in it (or as your email says -- whip against adding the public option as an amendment in the Senate.)

"The reason is simple. There can be no amendments - good or bad - to the reconciliation bill once the House passes it and sends it to the Senate. The House will not do step one (passing the Senate healthcare bill in the first place) if they do not have assurances that the fixes they want (i.e., the fixes in their reconciliation bill) will be passed unchanged by the Senate."

Shoemaker continued: "I believe the progressive community's best hope of seeing a public option in the healthcare bill is to lobby members of the House to include it in the reconciliation bill they send to the Senate and to continue to get senators to pledge their support for it."

Shoemaker's email reflects a fairly strict reading of how Democrats are prepared to approach both reconciliation and the public option. The party is set on promoting one package of fixes to the bill and ignoring all other amendments, which Republicans have pledged to offer on topics from immigration to abortion. This means that if the public plan is going to survive, it will have to originate with Pelosi's fixes in the House.

At this point, there hasn't been much focus on whether Pelosi is considering adding that measure to her reconciliation bill. While the House passed a public plan in its initial legislation, the White House has made it clear they don't want it in the final package. But Green and allied groups are mounting a campaign pressuring her to take Durbin's bait. PCCC, Democracy for America and Credo launched a campaign on Friday targeting the speaker with online ads and phone calls.

"The fate of the public option is now in Nancy Pelosi's hands," read a joint statement from the three groups. "The votes and the leadership are there in the Senate, and the public option will live or die based on Nancy Pelosi's next moves. She's been a hero on this issue in the past, and we hope that she steps up at this historic moment."

BELOW IS SHOEMAKER'S FULL EMAIL TO GREEN

Adam -

I hope you are setting all 1 million people straight. Here's the truth and I hope you start spreading it:

The House needs to take up and pass (without amendment) the senate-passed health care bill. (The reason that's important is that if the bill is amended in any way, it will need to return to the senate where we no longer have 60 votes to pass any kind of health care measure. If that happens healthcare reform will languish on the vine.)

Next, the House needs to write and pass a reconciliation bill that includes important fixes to the health care bill mentioned above. Senator Durbin is hopeful that one of those fixes is inclusion of a public option and has urged the House to include it. He has in fact pledged to support the public option if its included in the reconciliation bill and he will do so.

I want to be crystal clear: Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over. Conversely, the Leaders will whip against any attempt to alter or amend the bill if the public option is not in it (or as your email says - whip against adding the public option as an amendment in the Senate.)

The reason is simple. There can be no amendments - good or bad - to the reconciliation bill once the House passes it and sends it to the Senate. The House will not do step one (passing the Senate healthcare bill in the first place) if they do not have assurances that the fixes they want (i.e., the fixes in their reconciliation bill) will be passed unchanged by the Senate.

I believe the progressive community's best hope of seeing a public option in the healthcare bill is to lobby members of the House to include it in the reconciliation bill they send to the Senate and to continue to get senators to pledge their support for it.

Instead of calling out senators like Durbin who have staunchly supported and fought for progressive principles to be included in the health reform bill, people need to look at what is possible and what is lost by actions like this.

It is possible right now, to pass a healthcare bill that curbs many of the worst practices of health insurance companies (pre-existing conditons; must carry; lifetime/annual caps on coverage; gender discrimination, etc.)

It is possible right now to pass a healthcare bill that will ensure health insurance for 31 million people who today have no insurance (94 percent of all Americans would be covered).

It is possible right now to pass a healthcare bill that rewards doctors for practicing good medicine rather than rewarding them for ordering more tests and protects the quality of medical care offered to patients.

It is possible right now to pass a healthcare bill that will start bending the cost curve so that we slow the outrageous escalation in the cost of healthcare and eventually start bringing prices down. And there are literally hundreds more examples like that.

All of these vital and important things will not come to pass if we make one provision - the public option - the only thing we fight for. It must be balanced against all the other items as well.

It seems to me that the history of progressive reform in America is replete with examples of incremental reform (components that we today think of as essential in Medicare, Social Security, Civil Rights, etc were all added years - in somes cases decades - after the original bill was passed). Why is healthcare so different? Why does it all have to be done here and now?

The truth is no one thinks the final healthcare bill will be perfect. But it will do far more good than harm. And it will provide a platform on which to build.

So that's what Durbin will be whipping for - passage of an imperfect but good bill. And he could use your help rather than accusations of betrayal.

Joe Shoemaker
Communications Director
Sen. Dick Durbin