After a meeting with President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she believes a public option will be essential to passing a bill in the House of Representatives…for the time being anyhow.
“I believe that the public option will be essential to our passing a bill in the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said. “[President Obama] said, if you have a better idea, put it on the table. So if somebody has a better idea of how to do that, put it on the table. For the moment, however, as far as our house members are concerned, the overwhelming majority of them support a public option.”
Pelosi appeared with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who said the public option “or something like” a public option will survive the legislative process.
Two things stand out. The first is that this is Pelosi’s sounding less resolute about the need for a public option than she was last week when she said “[a] bill without a strong public option will not pass the House.”
The second is that Pelosi’s explicitly leaving open the possibility that, down the line, support will exist in the House to pass something that falls short of a strong public option. Seems like there may be a bit of wiggle room emerging.
