The push to revive the public option suffered a major setback today when White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the popular measure lacks the 50 votes it would need in the Senate to survive the budget reconciliation process. Gibbs’ abruptness caught Senate Dem leadership by surprise, but what he said isn’t really at odds with their own take. And yet, the number of public proponents of the plan keeps growing, and it’s easy to remember a time when it seemed pretty clear that there were at least 50 votes for a public option in the Senate.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=130181