Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) caused quite a stir this week when he suggested that he’d urge liberal Democrats to vote against any amendments to the health care reform bill sent over from the House — even provisions like the public option that a vast majority of the Democratic caucus supports.
Last night, in a statement to liberal groups, the office of the Illinois Democrat clarified: “Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over.”
That, according to those same liberal groups, puts “the fate of the public option … in Nancy Pelosi’s hands.” From the statement issued this morning by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America and Credo Action:
The votes and the leadership are there in the Senate, and the public option will live or die based on Nancy Pelosi’s next moves. She’s been a hero on this issue in the past, and we hope that she steps up at this historic moment.
This creates a fascinating new dynamic, not least of all because Pelosi has never wavered in her support for the public option. Indeed, unlike the Senate health reform proposal, the House-passed bill would create one.
We’ll know the outcome soon enough. The Democrats say they want to pass health care reform before the end of the month.