Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) said yesterday what seems to be on a lot of Democratic minds. “I think that at some point everyone’s going to see that the Republicans simply are not going to agree to any kind of health-care reform that the insurance industry isn’t supporting and that, reluctantly, we’re going to have to do it without them,” she told The Hill.
Schakowsky’s words are interesting for a couple reasons. She’s the Democrats’ chief deputy whip and the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s healthcare task force. But she’s also a confidant of President Obama. Her vote, over the objections of many progressives, was instrumental in moving House health care legislation out of the Energy and Commerce committee, and Obama reportedly reached out to her directly to urge her to support the bill.
