Reid avoids public option commitment

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) avoided any
commitment to a public option component to the Senate’s final
healthcare bill Wednesday, as well as to any deadline for the bill’s passage.

The majority leader said he won’t decide whether to include a public option until after the Finance Committee passes a bill that is then merged with a competing version passed this summer by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Obama administration has generally pushed for a public option component to healthcare legislation, and both Vice President Joe Biden Jr. and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have recently tossed out the idea of a Thanksgiving deadline. Reid’s stance on Wednesday asserted a measure of independence from the administration, although he emphasized that he would consult with Obama officials throughout the process.

{mosads}Reid said he plans to merge the two bills in coordination with the
White House, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and HELP
Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Banking Committee Chairman
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). He predicted the Finance Committee would wrap up
its work on the bill “in the next few days.” The Finance Committee
voted 15-8 on Tuesday to strip a public option out of the committee
version of the bill.

“I support a public option, and time will determine what’s in the
bill,” Reid told reporters at a mid-afternoon press conference. “We’ll
get it to the floor as soon as we can. We have tried deadlines in the
past, and I think the deadline they’ve given is way far in the future.
We should be able to get something done by then. But I have learned in
this healthcare debate that I’m not going to set any arbitrary
deadlines.”