At a press conference today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declined to get into details about the Senate Finance Committee’s health care negotiations, but he declared that his number one priority is moving toward–and supporting–something that can get 60 votes.
“What I think should be in the bill is something that I will vote for according to my conscience when we get this bill to the floor,” Reid said. “That’s my number one responsibility and there are times I have to set aside my personal preferences for the good of the Senate and I think the country.”
Only a few weeks ago, Reid was pressuring Baucus to include a public option, so his personal preferences aren’t a complete secret–and it’s telling that he’s saying he’s now saying he may have to put those preferences aside.
But while he may not be confident about the possibility of a public option coming out of his chamber, he is confident that the committee will finish up work on its compromise bill by August 7, when the Senate adjourns for recess.
As an aside about the frustrating nature of the politics of the fight, I’m not sure how much reformers and voters who support reform care about what’s best for the Senate per se. But that sort of sentiment is rampant in the upper chamber and underlies to some extent just about ever controversial legislative fight on the Hill.
