3 Democrats hold out on health care bill

NY Times:

Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, says he is not sure he is ready to help a Democratic health care proposal clear even the most preliminary hurdle: gaining the 60 votes his party’s leaders need to open debate on the measure later this week.

Two of his fellow Democrats, Senators Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, are proving tough sells as well, raising the prospect that one or perhaps all three of them could scuttle the bill before the fight over it even begins on the Senate floor.

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Inability by the Democrats to advance their emerging plan could require them to regroup and redraw the measure or even switch to a more contentious procedural shortcut around the need for a 60-vote majority.

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On Tuesday, Republicans demonstrated the risks some Democrats face in agreeing to even open debate. The Republican National Committee attacked Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas, a state that went heavily Republican in last year’s presidential election, for agreeing to side with fellow Democrats on the initial vote, equating it with a vote for the measure itself.

There is no Republican on whom Mr. Reid can count for support in the procedural vote. “We’re going to do everything we can to defeat this monstrosity and actually get to a meaningful debate about how we genuinely have health care reform in this country,” Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a member of the Republican leadership, said Tuesday.

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The three Democrats could just be using their hold out for leverage. Reid has already agreed to drop a provision stripping anti trust exemptions from the bill to appease Nelson. I think the Democrats are so committed to getting some form of health care reform that they will eventually go with the reconciliation nuclear option.