ON THE FLOOR
The Senate will reconvene at 10 a.m. and proceed to a period of morning business for one hour. The chamber will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus lunches. At 2:20 p.m., the Senate will vote on confirmation of Irene Berger of West Virginia, to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. Following the confirmation vote, the chamber will be in morning business until 5:30 p.m. and hold a procedural vote on the unemployment insurance extension bill (HR 3548) at 6 p.m.
The House will convene at 12 p.m. for legislative business and is expected to consider measures under suspension of the rules.
HEALTH CARE
Clearly reacting to liberal pressure and with his job as a Senator in jeopardy in his home state as he faces a tough reelection, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday stated the Senate bill he has been crafting behind closed doors will include a public option that supposedly allows states to “opt out” if they wish.
Even though there has not been an official “whip count” on Senator Reid’s plan Politico reports it would garner 56 or 57 votes. All the support comes from Democrats for the sole Republican that has flirted with the Democratic caucus on the issue, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), expressed “disappointment” in Senator Reid’s move. Others opposed to the Majority Leader’s attempt likely includes Senators Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)
Senator Reid quickly got the affirmation from the left he was seeking with the George soros’ creation MoveOn.org said: “We applaud Sen.Reid’s leadership in standing up to the special interests who are trying to kill the public option outright, or through mechanisms like a trigger.” Another Soros group sent an e-mail out: “We haven’t won yet, not by a long shot, but we’ve passed a big milestone — we have a bill going to the Senate floor with a public health insurance option, something the pundits in Washington predicted would never happen,” an organizer for Health Care for America Now, a liberal group, wrote in an e-mail to supporters.
A likely scenario is that Senator Reid trieds to put his opt out option up first and it fails, either by not achieving cloture or the supporters realizing it does not have the votes. Then he will turn to a public option with a “trigger” – supported by the White House and Sen. Snowe – and which is rumored to have between 58 and 59 backers. If that ends up failing the Senate will then move to pass anything, in hopes the House of Representatives will include the public option (which they are likely to do) and the public option would be inserted in Conference.**
APPROPRIATIONS
More from the Hill:
Continuing Resolution: Next week, the House will consider a continuing resolution (CR) providing funding for the government at current 2009 levels, including all supplemental appropriation levels for defense in 2009. The CR may extend funding through mid-December or the end of the year and may be attached to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill.
* Whipping, or a “whip count,” is counting potential votes on specific legislation
** The purpose of a conference is to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill.