Lincoln Still Opposes Public Option, But Won’t Say How She’ll Vote

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
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The Associated Press reports that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) spoke about the public option today, saying “We don’t need to go there,” but wouldn’t say if she’d vote to block the health care reform bill from the Senate floor.

Although Lincoln has repeatedly voiced opposition to the public option, she hasn’t committed to voting against cloture. The bill will likely need all 60 members of the Democratic caucus to break a Republican filibuster.

“A government-funded option is something that I think is not the way to go,” she said today, speaking to members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau via videoconference. She added that she would, however, support an option run by a nonprofit company.

She also expressed trepidation over the opt-out public option in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bill.

“If you have to opt in, then it takes a while to create that pool, that mass of people, so if states are opting in it takes a while for states to create that critical mass of people that brings down the cost,” she said. “But opting out is a problem, too, because again you have to wait until legislatures meet and other things like that.”

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