Monday, August 24, 2009

Blue Dog Dem Jane Harman Indicates She'll Vote Against Any Bill Without a Strong Public Option

FireDogLake's Mike Stark caught up with Rep. Jane Harman (CA-36) before the August recess to talk about health care reform, and specifically a robust public option.  Although a Blue Dog Democrat, Jane Harman has broken publicly with the caucus over their stand on health care reform. In the video, it's clear she no interest in co-ops as they've been proposed and thinks a robust public option is the way to go.

After initially being caught off guard, Harman settles into a pretty good discussion about 2:40 in. Watch it.



"My specific issue is what more can we do to cut down on drug prices.....I was strongly against the vote a few years ago to prohibit Medicare Part D from negotiating for lower drug prices. It was a big mistake and I'm for repealing that.

The reason I favor a robust pubic option is it's a forcing mechanism to require private sector options to compete with each other. I haven't heard a co-op idea that makes sense to me....I did make that commitment, in writing, that I would vote against a bill that did not have a strong public option in it."


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