TPMDC’s Brian Beutler reports in from Capitol Hill that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer thinks the public option still has a heartbeat among his caucus.
But Hoyer (D-MD) said he thinks the White House has decided a public option can’t pass in the Senate.
The White House yesterday dodged questions about the growing list of Democratic senators who want to see public option passed via reconciliation, which takes just 50 votes and Vice President Joe Biden as a tiebreaker.
“I think the public option can pass in the House. But it’s not in the President’s proposal,” Hoyer said in response to a question from TPM.
“I think it is obviously an item the President has decided–he was for the public option as well–decided is not something that perhaps the Senate can buy,” he said.
Hoyer also praised the White House for putting a health care fix on the table yesterday–a proposal the Majority Leader described as “very positive”.
“The President’s proposal–that he put on the table, put online–[is] a very positive one,” Hoyer said. “Obviously it reflects a lot of the discussions that have gone on over the last month and a half since the Senate on Christmas Eve passed its bill.”
