Tuesday, December 22, 2009
It looks as if a health-care reform package will pass the Senate this week, although I'd be hard-pressed to explain the details to you at this point. But I can tell you what it doesn't have: A public option, which was of great importance to some Democrats in the House, including Congressman Raul Grijalva.
Provided the Senate does pass the package on Christmas Eve as planned, the next step for Democrats is finding a way to merge it with the House version that passed earlier this year.
Grijalva and his fellow House progressives have to figure out how much more they can get out of the package without scuttling it. Grijalva has already expressed his unhappiness with what he saw happening in the Senate. So what is he willing to settle for at this point?
BTW, if you want to see the differences between the House and Senate versions, here's a roundup.