Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

September 30, 2009

Schumer Upbeat on Public Option

"Shrugging off twin defeats Tuesday in the Senate Finance Committee, key Democrats said they were exactly where they wanted to be in pressing for a public insurance option in the final version of a health care reform bill," Roll Call reports.

As expected, Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) opposed both amendments. "But pointing to centrist Democratic Sen. Tom Carper's (D-DE) decision to vote in favor of the amendment by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) -- after Carper opposed a similar proposal by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) -- public insurance option proponents insisted they are making headway with the skeptical moderate Democrats they'll need to win over on the Senate floor."

Said Schumer: "Today was a very good day for the public option. It was given up for dead a few weeks ago. But, what we find is, every time we debate it, whether it's back home or here in the Senate Finance Committee, we pick up more support."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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