Pelosi and Hoyer on a Different Page

Democrats have been divided for some time now, primarily between the Baucus plan in the senate and the more liberal versions floating around the house. This is all Obama's fault who never bothered to clarify what he wanted, leaving the door open to conflicting and contradictory plans, all originating with the Democratic party. Now the division has hit the point that Pelosi and Hoyer, ostensible allies are on a different page:

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said legislation to revamp the U.S. health-care system won’t get through her chamber unless it creates a government-run insurance program to compete with the private industry.

“There’s no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option,” the California Democrat said at a press conference in San Francisco yesterday.

Pelosi drew a line in the sand on one of the most contentious issues surrounding the health-care overhaul after Obama administration officials earlier suggested the White House might be willing to back away from the public option to win broader support. Republicans and even some Democrats have said the idea is a nonstarter in the Senate.

“The government-run plan would turn into a bureaucratic nightmare,” Senator Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican, wrote in a USA Today opinion piece on Aug. 19. “In the finance committee, six of us leading the negotiations are working from the premise that there will not be a government-run plan.”

Enzi last night joined in a call with the five other senators in a group led by finance committee Chairman Max Baucus that’s trying to craft a health-care plan. The panel is the only one of five congressional panels with jurisdiction over health care that is attempting to find a bipartisan compromise.

Fine, Pelosi claims health care is dead unless the entitlement is created, but how does that mix with this from Hoyer just this afternoon:

Via HA:

Hoyer (D-Md.) emphasized his support for a public option in a teleconference call with reporters, but also said he wants to ensure Congress sends a bill to the president.

“I’m for a public option, but I’m also for passing a bill,” he said. Democrats believe the public option is necessary, useful and important, he added, “be we’ll have to see.”

He then said there are many other important parts of healthcare legislation that have been approved by three committees in the House.

President Barack Obama already has signaled he won’t insist that a public option be included in final healthcare legislation, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Sunday opened a firestorm with the political left by saying that a public option was “not essential” to a healthcare bill.

Hoyer has long been seen as a voice for centrist Blue Dog Democrats, who have reservations about the public option.

To have such a an open divison between the House Majority leader and the Speaker is quite stunning and testifies to how out of control the whole process has become. Foor the record I believe the public option is dead, to consitently signal to Democrats and some in the GOP that they will ditch it in order to salvage some legislation (And Obama's reputation) all but dooms its passage.