Most of the major unions in American are not happy with the Baucus bill, which recently passed out of the Senate Finance Committee. Today, they chose to make their objections known very publicly, in defiance of Rahm Emanuel, by taking out several of full-page newspaper ads. “He told us that we really don’t want to [...]

Rahm Emanuel is meeting with Harry Reid to tell him what the White House wants in the final Senate bill. It’s Reid’s call, and no matter what happens, he gets to wear it. But maybe people will finally disabuse themselves of the “Obama wants a public option” fantasy:. Here’s Rahm last night on the News [...]

Olympia Snowe and Rahm Emanuel are both pushing hard for their “trigger” idea recently. The idea is the public option would only go into effect if the health insurance industry kept raising people’s rates at a rapid pace. (I believe, after studying the trigger created by Snowe, that it was designed to never be pulled. [...]

POP (Public Option Please), our health care reform advocacy campaign, is announcing an arts contest.  Inspired by artists behind the successful “Manifest Hope” project, the effort is designed to provide a vehicle for artists to help reframe the debate surrounding health care. Whereas Congress is focused on bending cost curves and protecting insurance company profits, [...]

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy On the Rachel Maddow Show last night, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) publicly delivered a message that is likely not to sit well with Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Schumer basically said it was completely up to Reid if he wanted to put a [...]

The Senate Finance Committee passed the Baucus bill 14-9. Snowe was the lone Republican vote. I fear what bad ideas newly crowned Empress Snowe will decree be part of reform. If Reid claims he does not have the votes to pass a bill with a public option he should be forced to prove what Democrats [...]

I know many on the left have taken to calling Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, President Snowe. This has been in response to the Democratic party leadership willingness to do almost anything to gain/keep Snowe’s support for health care reform. Frankly, this does not fully encompass just how much power has been handed over to Snowe. [...]

I’m sure Chairman Baucus, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and President Obama are all pleased that Republican senator Olympia Snowe voted for the Baucus bill in committee. Their goals have long been to pass anything they could slap the label “health care reform” on and declare victory. Sadly, Snowe’s support could signal a bad day for [...]

There are 51 Senators who will vote for a public option, something 77% of the country wants. It would win a majority in a floor vote. We were told that we needed 60 votes in the Caucus so we’d have a filibuster-proof majority — so that the GOP would never block a bill from getting [...]

The bill passes the Senate Finance Committee 14-9. 2:51 – Vote: all Democrats vote yes. Snowe is only Republican to join with the Democrats. the bill passes 14-9. 2:48 – To address Kyl previous complaint about the technical corrections not being part of the bill scored, Baucus had it voted on as an amendment. For [...]