After yesterday, when the House of Representatives cleared its version of sweeping health overhaul legislation, the Sunday talk shows were full of GOP and Democratic leaders talking about the impact of that vote as well as what might happen in the Senate.
Reuters: "After a landmark win in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Barack Obama's push for healthcare reform faces a difficult path in the Senate amid divisions in his own Democratic Party on how to proceed." In the Senate, there's no margin for error. Democrats control 60 votes, but some either oppose or are hesitant about Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to include a public insurance option in the version of legislation he sends to the Senate floor. "Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, renewed his promise on Sunday to help Republicans block a final vote" if the bill contains the public plan supported by Senate liberals. "'If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,' Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday."
The newly passed House version of sweeping health reform legislation triggered criticism from the right. "'The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,' Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation, calling it 'a bill written by liberals for liberals.'" The Reuters' report notes that yesterday's House vote was a key win for President Obama, "who staked much of his political capital on the healthcare battle." A loss would have could have ended the effort, limited his ability to advance the rest of his agenda and left Democrats vulnerable in next year's congressional elections. But "Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008 and a leader of conservative grass-roots opposition to Obama's agenda, promised retribution in those elections." She wrote on her Facebook page that the next moves are in the Senate. "Our legislators can listen now, or they can hear us in 2010. It's their choice," she wrote. "We will make our voices heard" (Whitesides, 11/8).
CBS News: During his appearance on Face the Nation, Graham -- terming the House bill a "non-starter in the Senate" -- also said "that if it were to come down to it, he would join his independent colleague Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in filibustering a bill including the so-called public option should it come to the Senate floor. ... I just think the construct out of the House and what exists in the Senate is not going to pass, and I hope and pray it doesn't because it would be a disaster for the economy and health care." Graham believed a public option would "destroy" private health care, saying that insurance companies could not compete against the lower premiums of a government-backed plan. "It will be a death blow to private choice," he said.
Meanwhile, also on Face the Nation, Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., said he believed the Senate is going to pass health care reform. "I believe we must do this because it's essential to not just the quality of life here but our economic success in the future." (Levi, 11/8).