The Tolbert Report

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this afternoon that the Senate Health Care Bill will include provisions for government run insurance (public option.) The details are still forthcoming but apparently the provision will allow for states to opt out of the program. Sen. Reid indicated that he believes he can obtain the support from all the members of his caucus for the proposal, which certainly leads to the question of whether Arkansas Democratic Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor will support the measure.

Sen. Lincoln’s communication director, Katie Laning Niebaum, made it clear that Lincoln’s support is not a given. “Senator Lincoln has said, as with any change to the bill she supported in the Finance Committee, she will have to see the legislative language and cost first and will evaluate it based on its impact on Arkansans,” said Niebaum.

“Blanche Lincoln needs to explain where she stands once and for all – will she stand up against President Obama’s government takeover of America’s health care system and vote against Harry Reid’s bill, or will she put politics before people in Arkansas and allow this bill to reach the Senate floor?” asked Amber Wilkerson Marchand, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “Senator Lincoln claims that she’s unequivocally against a public option – will she keep her word, or will she bend to the left like she did on the bloated stimulus bill and the White House budget?”

“Sen. Lincoln has another choice to make,” said possible Republican opponent Conrad Reynolds.  ”Will she again stand with Sen. Reid and the liberal leaders in Washington in order to pay the tab on her new committee chairmanship, or will she choose to honor the conservative values of the people of Arkansas? I call on Sen. Lincoln to follow through on her position of last week saying she ‘ruled out’ government controlled healthcare by voting to oppose any cloture motion which would bring the public option to a full vote. A vote for cloture enables the passage of the public option – no matter how Sen. Lincoln votes in the end.”

“Sooner or later, Sen. Lincoln is going to have to take a side on government-run health care and stick with it,” State Sen. Gilbert Baker, who is also competing for the Republican nomination, tells the Tolbert Report. ”Her constant back-and-fourth on the issue only demonstrates the fact that she doesn’t have a problem with putting politics before the people of Arkansas. We need a leader in the U.S. Senate who will be a check and balance to President Obama, Harry Reid, and Sen. Lincoln’s attempts for a government takeover of our health care system.”

Tags: 2010 Candidates