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Hours before President Obama was set to deliver a make-or-break speech on health care reform, a top Senate negotiator conceded the government-run insurance program so dear to the president's supporters cannot pass the Senate.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who was trying to hammer out the details of a bipartisan compromise Wednesday with five other senators, announced that he would be moving ahead with or without Republican support
That means Baucus himself (bought and paid for by the medical lobbies) can't support it himself. Otherwise, by saying that, he'd be admitting his own impotence at enforcing party line voting.
But he made clear that the so-called "public option" would not be part of any deal with his name on it.
"The public option cannot pass the Senate," Baucus said. "I could be wrong, but it's my belief that the public option cannot pass."
Obama, who will address a joint session of Congress at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, has indicated he wants a public option and will press for it in his address, a senior adviser said. The senior official fought back against the perception that August was a tough month for Obama's health care agenda, but said the president did lose ground politically before the recess and can start regaining it Wednesday night.
That means Baucus himself (bought and paid for by the medical lobbies) can't support it himself. Otherwise, by saying that, he'd be admitting his own impotence at enforcing party line voting.
Medical and insurance companies. Don't forget the insurance companies.
If he didn't sell out, it would pass.
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