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Originally Posted by JoshGirls Josh
Im mad mostly cause the dems shoulda done this on jan 21, 2009. Obamacare woulda been a much more progressive law, with a public option that woulda truly humbled the insurance companies. it was needing 60 votes that caused the law to get watered down to where nobody is happy.
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They had the 60 votes on Jan 21, 2009. 58 Dems plus Sanders and Specter (I) who both caucuses with the Dems. They had this super majority until Ted Kennedy passed, and Scott Brown won his seat.
The Dems abandoned the public option long before Kennedy passed. And they rammed the law through on Budget Reconciliation instead using parliamentary tricks to pass it on 51 votes. Which is a reason the law is an even bigger clusterfuck than it was already going to be. It was passed in draft form, as that was the only way to have the house pass it in time to do it this way.
You can blame a lot of things on filibusters slowing down laws in the Senate, but blaming it for the lack of a public option is not it. Your beloved Democrats bailed on it early to ensure that the insurance companies kept their election coffers full.