Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is saying that the Senate has a majority for a public option–in direct contradiction to claims by President Obama. From TPM:

Sanders said he thinks Democrats have 50 votes in the Senate to pass a bill “certainly to include a public option.” It was a bit of good news for progressives, who have turned their attention to using reconciliation in the Senate to bolster a reform bill with the addition of a public option.


Who is right–Sanders or Obama? The PCCC now has a total of 41 senators on record supporting the public option through reconciliation. Only 9 short of fulfilling a major health care promise Obama made to his supporters throughout the 2008 campaign.

One would hope that, if Democrats use reconciliation, the Democratic leadership will not try to stop a public option amendment when it does come up for an up-or-down vote, so we can know which senators stand with the American people, and which are fighting to protect the private insurance industry.

Jon Walker

Jon Walker
