Jay Rockefeller is the second ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Rockefeller has long been an advocate of universal health care. Rockefeller released a draft of a public option before even Ted Kennedy’s committee had written one.

Rockefeller believes that the public option is an important provision for the people of West Virginia. The the Charleston Gazette reported on Rockefeller’s position on health care reform in July:

"Some of those plans are the only options people can afford, though, and a significant number of residents have no insurance at all. The number changes, but an April report by the group Families USA estimated that 497,000 West Virginians were without health insurance at some point during 2007-2008.

"I can’t stand the idea of a West Virginian who needs health care, but doesn’t have it because they can’t afford it or because they’re being excluded," Rockefeller said.

Despite Rockefeller’s interest in the issue, and despite the fact that Rockefeller chairs the health subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus chose to exclude him from the Secretive Six’s negotiations over a health care reform bill.

The result of excluding a person who cares passionately about an issue from important negotiations is that the person’s concerns aren’t addressed in the final bill. Today, Rockefeller said he opposes Baucus’ bill in its current form, and will vote no on the bill unless the bill is changed to a more progressive piece of legislation.

According to the New Republic:

"Senator Jay Rockefeller, speaking Tuesday afternoon on a conference call co-sponsored with the Campaign for America’s Future:

"I have sat besides Max Baucus for 22 years on the Finance Committee. … I’m probably one of his best friend among Democrats. But I cannot agree with him on this bill. … There is no way in present form I will vote for it. Therefore, I will not vote for it unless it changes during the amendment process by vast amounts"…

Later in the call, Rockefeller suggested four to six Demorats on the Finance Committee had similar feelings, although he didn’t say (and may not know) whether they feel as strongly as he does."

The problem with Chairman Baucus’ negotiations was that he excluded many important voices from the debate. The Baucus process started with single payer advocates being excluded from the Committee hearings Baucus said would "hear from all sides." Baucus later called this a mistake.

Then Baucus excluded solid progressive voices–like John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, and Chuck Schumer–from the Secretive Six’s negotiations. While progressive voices went unheard by Baucus’ ad hoc committee, the opinions of Senator Chuck Grassley–whose last health care related twitter reads, "Distortion of end-of-life debate is atempt 2avoid debate:govt takovr,xplodin deficit,cost of Pelosi bill Focus shld b viabl nonGovt plan"–were taken as gospel.

It’s little wonder that the Baucus plan is lacking–both in substance, and in support.