Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) reacted to the latest development in the health care debate today, re-evaluating the landscape since the Congressional Budget Office released its score of the Senate Finance Committee bill.
Conrad, appearing on MSNBC, expressed skepticism about the bill’s ability to get a filibuster-proof majority to pass health care reform, even though Democrats now hold 60 seats.
“I’m not at all certain we can get the 60 votes necessary without some Republicans,” he said.
Brown, also on MSNBC, said he’s confident “more than 50” senators will support the public option — still, not enough for a supermajority.
Thirty senators have already signed a letter expressing support for the public option, he said. Although he believes more than 50 want a public option, he said he doesn’t think they’ll be able to get that many signatures on the letter.
“A lot of people don’t like to sign,” he said.
