Dick Durbin: I'll Whip 'Aggressively' For A Public Plan If Pelosi Includes It

[laughingliberal]

The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate said on Friday that he would "aggressively" rally votes for a public option for insurance coverage if House Democrats included the proposal in their reconciliation fixes for health care reform.

In a letter to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin's spokesman Joe Shoemaker made it "crystal clear" that his boss favors efforts to get a government-run insurance plan into law. But, echoing remarks the Illinois Democrat made to the Huffington Post, Shoemaker writes that the onus lies with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

If House Democrats include a public plan in the reconciliation bill they craft to "fix" the Senate's legislation, Durbin will work hard to make sure the provision (as part of the reconciliation package) has the votes for passage. If it's not in that reconciliation package, he won't lift a finger. In fact, he will work against efforts to add it as an amendment.

"Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over," Shoemaker wrote in an email that he authorized PCCC founder Adam Green to make public. "Conversely, the Leaders will whip against any attempt to alter or amend the bill if the public option is not in it (or as your email says -- whip against adding the public option as an amendment in the Senate.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/12/dick-durbin-ill-whip-aggr_n_496559.html

Keep the pressure up on the Senate to support PO *AND* let's flood the House members with our calls and emails to encourage inclusion. I believe, now, if the House has the courage to put it in the reconciliation package, it WILL pass the Senate. The House is holding the cards. Let's encourage them to play them!