Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., announced Tuesday that he is willing to vote for a health care reform bill if it excludes a public option as well as a provision to allow people aged 55 to 64 to enroll in Medicare.
If those two provisions are not a part of the bill, Lieberman said, "Then I'm going to be in a position where I can say ... that I'm ready to vote for health care reform."
He added that he feels the bill is "headed in the right direction," and that the basic core of the bill accomplishes the most important goals laid out by President Barack Obama.
"My whole point has been here," Lieberman said, "the president laid out a couple of big goals for this process. Bend the cost curve down for individuals, families, businesses, our government, our economy and health care."
"Secondly, bring in a lot of people who can't afford health insurance now. The basic core bill does that," he added.
During an interview on CBS television Sunday, Lieberman stated that he would not vote for a bill that included either a public option provision or the Medicare provision.
His announcement rattled Democrats, who will need Lieberman's vote to reach the needed 60 votes to pass the bill in the Senate.
According to Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., worked with fellow Democrats in a closed-door conference to remove the Medicare option from the bill.
"The general consensus was that we shouldn't make the perfect the enemy of the good, and if we're going to get all the insurance reforms accomplished and a number of other things [and] dropping the Medicare expansion was necessary, well then that's what should be done and it appeared that would be necessary to get the 60 votes," Senator Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said after the meeting.
"At some point you have to switch from the sentiment, the emotion of the words, to the facts," added Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., who also attended the meeting. "And then you've got to decide, 'If I didn't get what I want, in the form that I wanted it, am I willing to cashier 31 million Americans? I want a bill.'"
In addition, after the meeting, Reid promised that the bill would make it through the Senate before Christmas.
"I'm confident that by next week we will be on our way toward final passage of a bill that saves lives, saves money and saves Medicare," Reid said.
Despite the fact that Democrats were willing to concede some points, Republicans still remained critical of the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued that the bill still includes "a half a trillion dollars in cuts in Medicare, $400 billion in higher taxes and higher premiums for everyone else."
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