Speaking before what was described as a friendly crowd at the Monroe Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Sen. Mary Landrieu said she was opposed to much of the Democrats’ legislative agenda.
Asked under what circumstances she would support a public option, Landrieu responded, “[v]ery few, if any. I’d prefer a private market-based approach to any health care reform that would extend coverage,” according to the Monroe News Star.
“I’d like to cover everyone — that would be the moral thing to do — but it would be immoral to bankrupt the country while doing so,” Landrieu said. The public option as currently conceived is expected to be a deficit reducer.
Landrieu also said she’d continue her long history of opposition to a cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “I’m not supporting that approach, but I’m open to hear modifications,” she said.
Landrieu has also balked at the idea that she and other Democrats should be expected to oppose filibusters as a procedural matter. “I’m going to keep an open mind, but I am not committing to any procedural straitjackets one way or another,” she said in July.
