MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Statement

Joining me now, Connecticut Representative Joe Courtney, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee. Congressman Courtney, what's going on with the liberals in the House? Are there 60 of them who really will vote no on any plan that does not have a public option?

REP. JOE COURTNEY, EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE: There definitely was a letter that 60 members signed. I was not one of them, actually. But that did object to some of the press reports about what was being negotiated with the Blue Dog caucus. The letter, as I read it, wasn't quite black and white in terms of whether people would absolutely, totally vote no.

But clearly there are people who have very strong feelings about what they're reading about, in terms of negotiations with the Energy and Commerce Committee, and obviously with the Senate Finance Committee, which you just discussed, Larry.

Certainly, there's I think a belief that, you know, the public option is really something that members consider the highest priority to make sure that you've got a credible benchmark for private insurance companies to have to match up to or perform to, if you're going to have true, honest to god health care reform.

O'DONNELL: Congressman Courtney, how eager are you guys to go out on the House floor? And what I mean by that is, are you willing to go out on the House floor, say, in early September, before the Senate Finance Committee has delivered a bill?

COURTNEY: You know, I think it would be helpful in terms of getting to 218 votes if we had some clear idea of where the Senate end game was. And that's certainly something I've expressed to Rahm Emanuel and others at the White House. Having said that, you know, there's a lot of ways for a bill to make it through the process. And certainly I could see a strategy where if the House moving first and having an aggressive, strong health care reform bill pass might stiffen some spines in the Senate side, and create sort of a groundswell of support for the public to push the Senate -So That's certainly one scenario that could take place.

Ideally, we would have a package that everybody could see, both in the House and the Senate, when we're taking up the final action, so that, you know, you really increase everybody's comfort level. And I think get the strongest number possible.

O'DONNELL: You have members on the Ways and Means Committee who have already voted for three new top tax brackets, which, by the way, will hit Connecticut harder than it's going to hit other states, in terms of income distribution by state. I would imagine that the rest of the House is very reluctant to vote for new high tax brackets in the House bill, if they're not going to be voted on in the Senate.

Why would House members want to extend themselves on that, if they think the Senate might not go for it at all?

COURTNEY: The fact is a lot of House members wouldn't want to extend themselves and walk that gang plank. The House Ways and Means Committee did take up that action. And you're right, there were members from the northeast and the West Coast who sit on that committee. That was a very tough vote for many of them to cast.

And I think you're going to see a lot more noise aimed at the White House saying, hey, we want you to weigh in with the Senate so we can see what the end game is. If we're going to take a really, really tough vote, we want to make sure it's not just symbolic and something that's going to be used as cannon fodder against us in 2010, but that it's actually going to be meaningful.

At this point, I think a lot of people are skeptical that that's really going to be the final version, and why should we walk the gangplank if that's not the case?

O'DONNELL: Thank you, Congressman Courtney.

COURTNEY: OK, Larry.

Source