NEWS

Reid doesn’t have health votes — yet - The Hill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is short of enough votes to pass a Senate healthcare bill with a government-run health insurance option with only Democratic support.

Hoyer: House Dems on the verge of bringing healthcare bill to the floor – The Hill

House Democrats are days, if not hours, away from introducing the healthcare bill that will make it to the floor, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday.

Lamont: Lieberman “Dithering” On Health Care – Huffington Post

One of Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) most strident critics accused him of “dithering” on health care reform after the Independent stated that he would consider sustaining a filibuster of the legislation.

A Delicate Dance for 2 Health Lobbyists - New York Times

One is a smooth-talking former congressman from Louisiana — “the Swamp Fox,” constituents called him — who relishes his image as a rascal, a charmer and a Cajun raconteur. The other is a fireman’s daughter from working-class Rhode Island, strait-laced and studious, who mastered the arcane world of health policy as an analyst for the A.F.L.-C.I.O.

Public likes public option for healthcare. Joe Lieberman doesn’t. – Christian Science Monitor

Poll results tend to show that voters approve of the public option for healthcare. But senators like Joe Lieberman could vote the other way.

OPINION

Will Joe Lieberman filibuster? – Ezra Klein

I don’t know why I don’t take Joe Lieberman’s threat to filibuster health-care reform more seriously, but I just don’t.

It Was Lieberman All Along - Jon Chait

It literally makes no sense whatsoever. A public plan does not provide a new entitlement. It just doesn’t. It’s a different form of providing an entitlement. Nor is it more expensive. In fact, the stronger versions of the public plan would cost less money. Lieberman is just babbling nonsense here.

Why Triggers Don’t Work – Change.org

A public option “trigger” has received a lot of attention lately. Thankfully Harry Reid bypassed it for an opt-out solution instead, because it’s a proven Really Bad Idea. Since the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky thinks it’s a fabulous idea to combine an opt-out public option with a trigger, let’s put this one to bed once and for all. Following is a quick lesson in political science, so you can recognize this underhanded trick when you see it in future.

(compiled for Health Care for America Now)