The Patriot Post® · Trouble in Public Option Paradise

It seems that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have their hands full corralling their own party in support of health care “reform.” Apparently, some still have enough sense to balk at taking over one-sixth of the U.S. economy.

In the Senate, Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced Tuesday that he would back a Republican filibuster of any bill that contained the so-called “public option,” even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out, as Reid has promised it would. “We’re trying to do too much at once,” Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.”

That and it’s unconstitutional.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who voted for the bill in committee, also said she would oppose the bill if it includes the public option. Reid has his work cut out for him.

As for the House, Politico reports: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi counted votes Thursday night and determined she could not pass a ‘robust public option’ – the most aggressive of the three forms of a public option House Democrats have been considering as part of a national overhaul of health care.” Perhaps that’s why she wants to call it something other than the “public option” – like the “competitive option” or the “consumer option.” That’ll fool ‘em.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) claims he has “about 40 likeminded Democrats” who will vote against the bill if it does not prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for abortions. Pelosi, too, has a job ahead if she wants the bill passed.

There remains hope that the change proposed by Leftist Democrats will not actually come to pass. Can the American people stand for liberty and against unconstitutional government intrusion? Yes, we can.