Isn't This Exactly What Happened in the House?

That is: the progressives are told that they need to hold all amendments in order to push through a clean bill with no Republican poison pills, and at the last minute some asshole "centrist" or Republican tool forces the leadership to accept a far right poison pill. That was essentially what happened to Single Payer in the House, wasn't it? The progressives were promised a vote on the amendement, held off to make the process smooth for the leadership, and then Stupak and his team played hardball and forced their amendment through and poisoned the house bill. I'm pro the passing of any bill at this point and I don't want to see HCR go down in flames over the Public Option. I think we'd be better off passing HCR now any way we can and coming back and forcing through the Public Option we really want at a later date, as a stand alone bill. It doesn't have to be part of an omnibus bill now. But even so I think the Senate and the House leadership have to realize that the utter incompetence during the earlier negotiations doesn't give them a whole lot of credibility now. Does anyone believe that even if 40 Senators sit down and shut up and let the grown ups run the Reconciliation proceedings that Reid et al won't fuck it up? Because on the history, I'm not a believer.

Durbin Tells Progressive Senators They Can't Have the Public Option Vote
by mcjoan
Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 09:16:02 AM PST

With now more than 40 Senators saying they would support the public option in a reconciliation vote, Dick Durbin is trying to put the brakes on the process, saying that liberals may be asked to oppose the amendment [sub req] now that they've said they would support it. Roll Call reports:

Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged Wednesday that liberals may be asked to oppose any amendment, including one creating a public option, to ensure a smooth ride for the bill. “We have to tell people, ‘You just have to swallow hard’ and say that putting an amendment on this is either going to stop it or slow it down, and we just can’t let it happen,” Durbin, who supports a public option, told reporters. “We have to move this forward. We know the Republicans are likely to offer a lot of amendments, and some of them may be appealing to Democrats, but we have to urge them to stick with the bill.”