Pelosi: No bill without public option (Conrad: Senate won't pass bill with public option)

Politico, 8/20/09

Foreshadowing a House-Senate showdown, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday there is "no way" the House can pass a health care bill without a government-run insurance option.

Speaking at a news conference in San Francisco, Pelosi told reporters that a public option will "keep insurance companies honest."

“There’s no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option,” the California Democrat said, according to wire reports. "Unless someone comes up with a better idea, that's how we're going forth in the House."

Pelosi reportedly added: "If someone can come up with a better idea, let them put it on the table, we haven't heard that yet. ... So we're fighting very hard for the public option."

Obama on Thursday told liberal activists and a conservative talk show host that he continues to support a public option, but said it was only a piece of a broader health reform package and continues to signal that it's not a make-or-break issue for him.

Meantime, the Senate seems likely to drop the controversial plan from any bill it proposes. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-S.D.), a key negotiator on the Finance Committee, has emphatically said there aren't enough votes in the Senate to approve a bill with a government-run option.

"It's very clear that there are not the votes in the United States Senate for a public option," Conrad said Thursday on Fox Business Network.

Who will win this game of chicken?

NOTE: Pelosi and House Democrats don't care what the American people say since a majority of the people say no public option. Getting more obvious that a lot of Democrats do not represent their districts but believe they know what is best for everyone even when half of the 'everyone' oppose the OBAMACARE. Seniors are speaking out in large numbers against the bill but the House Democrats are not listening.

Now Obama wants the Senate to do the nuclear option on such an important bill that will only require 50 votes not 60. You have MA talking about going against their state law on how a Senator is replaced in order to make sure that Kennedy's replacement is appointed not elected. What is the rush to pass this OBAMACARE that the elected officials go against the will of the majority of Americans? What is in it for them should be the question everyone is asking?

The voters need to send any member of Congress or the Senate that does not vote for the will of their constituents to the Unemployment line in 2010. Every last member of the Democratic Socialist of America that occupies a seat in Congress/Senate needs defeated as well.