Senate democrats facing rough road in building public option support
Senate democrats face a rough road in building support for the public option part of health care reform.Senate Democrats need 60 votes to block a filibuster.That means they cannot lose any of the senators on their side of the aisle.But several moderates are making clear they don't like the public option, including Senator Joseph Lieberman.The public option allows states to opt out, a provision included to attract moderate support.
Senate Democrats are preparing a catchall government funding bill that denies President Barack Obama money for implementing signature first-term accomplishments like new regulations on Wall Street and his expansion of government health care subsidies but gives Democrats modest additional funding for domestic priorities like health research.