Senator Sanders Calls For Public Option Vote During Reconciliation

Senator Sanders' Office Published Links to Various Articles About Health Care Reform

Health Care President Obama is pushing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to strip the final health care reform bill of narrow deals aimed at appeasing specific senators. "We have defended it, and we will defend it," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose state picked up $600 million in extra Medicaid funding, Politico reported. LINK

Single Payer Sanders outlined a strategy for single payer that some liberals might want to think about, Ezra Klein blogged for The Washington Post. "The way we move to single payer in this country is to let one state like California go first," Sanders told a conference of progressive journalists. LINK

Public Option Prominent Senate liberals told Roll Call they are determined to put the public option question to the test when reconciliation comes to the floor.  Sen. Sanders said he believes supporters will have the votes when the amendment comes up. LINK

Public Option Sen. Sanders chalked up the difficulty Democrats have had passing health care to a mistaken belief about party unity, according to Talking Points Memo.  He told the progressive media conference that Senate Democrats do have 50 votes to pass a public option, Firedoglake added. LINK and LINK

Republican Obstructionists Senators frustrated at procedural roadblocks by Republicans met Wednesday with Majority Leader Reid. "We're working on a strategy to become more aggressive to combat that obstructionism," Sen. Bernie Sanders told Politico. LINK

Missed Opportunity The Senate's leading progressives expressed concern that President Obama squandered the transformational political coalition that propelled him into office. Sen. Sanders called it a "tragic mistake" that the White House fruitlessly chased Republican votes on health care rather than pass legislation, The Huffington Post reported. LINK

Sanders: White House Finally Gets It Sen. Sanders assailed the White House for purportedly wasting a year vying for Republican votes on health care reform, alleging that the protracted debate weakened the bill and damaged the party's standing among progressives, according to Raw Story. LINK

Progressive Pundits Some of the pundits at a Progressive Media Summit on Capitol Hill, including MSNBC's Ed Schultz, treated it as a forum to tell senators what they are doing wrong. Schultz complained that Democratic leadership avoids the Sunday shows. Sen. Sanders said Democrats forget "Rush Limbaugh was campaigning 365 days a year." LINK

Democrats, White House Close in on Health Bill  A final agreement nearly in hand, President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders are about to embark on one last sales job that will determine the outcome of the president's signature health care overhaul, The Associated Press reported. LINK