TPM's Beutler: Bingaman Becomes First Member of 'Gang of Six' to Broach Go-It-Alone Plan for Dems

[flpoljunkie]

Bingaman Becomes First Member of 'Gang of Six' to Broach Go-It Alone Plan For Dems
Brian Beutler
August 25, 2009, 3:13PM

Sen. Jeff Binagaman (D-NM)--one of the six members of the Senate Finance Committee who have been hashing out a health care reform bill for months--says that if bipartisan negotiations go nowhere, he'd support an effort to circumvent a filibuster and pass legislation without any Republicans.

"If we are unable to do it any other way, that is an option. It is a very difficult option," Bingaman told a crowd of about 200 at a town hall event in Albuquerque yesterday. He was referring to the possibility that Democrats will pass health care reform through the so-called budget reconciliation process.

The acknowledgment signals that even those members of Congress most invested in passing bipartisan health care reform are well aware that those efforts might not bare fruit.

"I don't think that that effort is what is stymying progress," Bingaman said.

"It may well not succeed, but it has been worth the effort, and we are continuing with it."

more here...

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bingaman-becomes-first-member-of-gang-of-six-to-broach-go-it-alone-plan-for-dems.php?ref=fpa

[grantcart]

1. the 6 are now 5

In the end the Democrats on the committee will all cave.


They are not going to stand up to the rest of the caucus, the House of Representatives, The President of the US, and irritants like us, in order to stop the most important Democratic legislation in 40 years.