HELP Bill Passes Committee On Party Line Vote w/ Public Option

by: tparty

Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 12:53:37 PM EDT

There were no Republican votes for the bill despite Republicans having four weeks worth of opportunities in markup, and using those four weeks to do things like refuse to accept their own amendments in order to prolong the process and attempt to kill the bill's momentum.

If this is the kind of "bipartisanship" we can look forward to in the coming weeks the Senate (and it surely is), then the Democratic leadership, with three-quarters of Americans on their side, should feel no compunction about using reconciliation to get a bill with a public option through:

"It's not the first priority, or the second priority, or the third priority. We think we can get it done without it," Emanuel said.

Yet reconciliation "exists as an alternative vehicle," he said. "That's what it was created for."

Here's Sen. Dodd on the bill:

"The American people demanded legislation that protects their choice of doctors, hospitals, and insurance plans; cuts costs for families, businesses, and the federal government; and ensures that, in the wealthiest nation in the world, everyone has access to affordable, high-quality care. This time, we have produced the legislation Americans wanted. This time, we have delivered on the promise of real change."

And Health Care for America Now just went up with this web video thanking Chris Dodd for his work:

Update: High praise for Dodd from Karen Tumulty at Time:

When the HELP Committee started "marking up" health legislation in Kennedy's absence a few weeks back, the whole endeavor had fallen into disarray. It fell to Kennedy's closest friend in the Senate -- Chris Dodd -- to pick up the pieces. "I got saddled with this responsibility, obviously at a late hour," Dodd said wryly as the committee prepared to vote. Yet Dodd's effort was extraordinary, and the bill that emerged is everything Ted would have wanted it to be....