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In her floor speech on Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell had a lot to say about Medicare reform—an important matter, no doubt—but relatively little to say about the overall health insurance reform bill that the chairman of her Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, was about to deliver the next day. (The phrase “public option” didn’t come up once in Cantwell’s Tuesday remarks, for example.)

Now that the Baucus Bill is out, what’s Cantwell thinking and will she vote for it? Her office didn’t respond to a request for comment yesterday, but she did just tell the McClathchy news service:

“I wouldn’t vote for a bill that doesn’t have Medicare reform and the public option,” Cantwell said in a telephone interview. “What would I tell the people in Washington state?”

Sounds like she won’t be voting for the Baucus Bill. For further divining of Cantwell’s possible mood (something I’ve tried my hand at before), see Ezra Klein:

Sen. Max Baucus is not a popular man right now. And he’s particularly unpopular among the Democrats on his committee. He locked them out of negotiations in order to secure Republican votes, created a bill they didn’t like to make a better platform for bipartisan compromise, and returned with a no Republican votes, a lot of wasted time, and a bill that doesn’t please anyone. It’s going to be very hard for him to get the Democratic votes needed to lift the legislation out of the Finance Committee.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

8 replies on “What Cantwell’s Thinking”

  1. E-mail your Senators and tell them to remove Baucus from the chairmanship of the finance committee. He is too corrupt to work for the American people.

  2. The bill is a disgusting gift to the insurance industry. I agree with @1…GET BAUCUS OUT NOW!!!

    Also, any Dem that does vote for this bill should be run out of office.

  4. The republicans lose an election (big) and still control the debate, push the president around and bully congress. I wish I had no soul so I could switch parties and feel better.

  5. Cantwell seems to be waking from her coma. At least one good thing about having a spineless senator, is that she’ll bend to a little constituent pressure.

  8. Yeah, emailing our senators really works. It’s worked splendidly the last 9 fucking years. Fuck email. Fuck letters. Fuck phone calls. The only reason the health insurance companies and the right wing nut jobs are winning is because liberals and progressives sit on their asses, yell at their computers, and send emails. GET OUT IN THE FUCKING STREETS, YOU COWARDS. Fight like your families’ lives depend on it. They do. God, I fucking HATE Democrats….

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