Like the Rockefeller amendment earlier, the Schumer-Cantwell amendment, which sought to add a public option to the Senate Finance Committee's health insurance reform bill, has just been defeated.

The vote in the Finance Committee, which came after impassioned arguments by both Schumer and Cantwell, was closer than for the Rockefeller amendment. That one had only 8 votes in favor, with 15 votes against. Schumer-Cantwell got 10 votes in favor and 13 votes against—with Cantwell, of course, voting yes and committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana) voting no.

(An explanation of the differences between the two amendments is here.)

As happened during debate on the Rockefeller amendment, there was again high praise for Cantwell from Schumer during this debate. He pointed toward a different—but related—Cantwell amendment to reform Medicare's dysfunctional "fee for service" system and said it was perhaps as important as the public option to the overall reform process. That amendment should be debated later this week.