If Liz were Queen

Anthony Weiner                                         New York’s 9th Congressional District

A Message From Congressman Anthony Weiner OCT 20, 2009

The public option is the most unlikely underdog in Washington.  As I mentioned last week, there are five versions of health care reform currently under consideration in Congress.  Only one doesn’t have the public option.  But there’s a real risk we may end up with a final bill that doesn’t include the public option.

This just isn’t common sense.  And it isn’t democracy, either.  The Washington Post released a poll today that shows a strong majority (57 percent) of Americans support a public option.

We already know that a majority of Representatives in the House support a public option.  And we know that at least 52 Democratic Senators support a public option.

Right now, it seems like the only opponents of the public option are a couple of Republican senators.  Are we really going to let Senators Charles Grassley and Olympia Snowe keep a public option out of health care reform?

Let’s stick with the majority on this one.  Two voices shouldn’t be enough to block what most of America wants.

Anthony