It wasn’t enough to protect insurers’ anti-trust exemption — Ben Nelson is ensuring that none of this monopoly-busting worms its way into anything — not even watered down, useless compromises:
[Florida Senator Tom] Carper is meeting with centrists such as Joe Lieberman, Olympia Snowe, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln asking them what kind of a trigger they might vote for. “What we’re asking centrists is: ‘What concerns do you need to have addressed to vote for cloture?’” Carper said. “And the two concerns that we hear over and over again is government run and government financed.” Both the hair trigger –which measures market penetration (an idea panned by at least one centrist, Nelson) — and Snowe’s trigger would institute government run public options on a state-by-state basis.
More on triggers here.
Oh well,
Nice words, but what about real actions??????