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But what about cloture?

October 14, 2009 10:46 am ET by Jamison Foser

In two separate articles today, the Washington Post makes a point of mentioning that Sen. Joe Lieberman said he won't support the Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill -- but neither article says anything about whether Lieberman says he'll filibuster it.

Here's one:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he would not support the finance panel's bill because of cost concerns.

"I'm afraid that in the end the Baucus bill is actually going to raise the price of insurance for most of the people in the country," he said on Fox Business Network's "Imus in the Morning" program, referring to Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

And the other

Dodd's Connecticut colleague,  Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I), said Tuesday that he could not support the Finance Committee bill, citing insurers' concerns that the fees and taxes it would impose on their industry would drive up premiums. Connecticut is home to numerous health insurance companies.

And here's why the omission matters.

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    • Author by all your eyes (October 14, 2009 11:04 am ET)
         
      Connecticut voters made a big mistake sending Lieberman back to the Senate. Now he is going to obstruct health care reform. If he doesn't like the Baucus bill, I have to imagine he won't support the blended Baucus/HELP bill. We might as well stop calling him an "independent who caucuses with Democrats." He's a Republican.
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    • Author by Rimmer (October 14, 2009 11:54 am ET)
      1  
      I don't support the Baucus bill either. We need a public plan (somehow I don't think that's Joe's objection though.) What the insurance industry is doing now is threatening us with rate hikes. I heard a spokesperson for the insurance industry on NPR and their objection to the Baucus bill is that the fines for people who don't buy mandatory private health insurance are too small. Basically what they want is a law that forces everyone to buy their product but has no restrictions on what they can charge.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by worrierking (October 14, 2009 12:25 pm ET)
         
      Maybe Joe's not so concerned about health care reform because 5 of the top 20 companies in Connecticut are insurance companies.
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    • Author by tangaroa (October 14, 2009 4:00 pm ET)
         
      The Democrats have to realize that, down inside, Lieberman hates them. It was the Democrat, after all, who voted for Ned Lamont, cost Lieberman the primary, and put him in danger of losing "his" Senate seat. It was the Republicans who saved the seat for him by abandoning their own candidate and voting for Joe. Joe only caucuses with the Democrats because they were able to give him committee chairmanships and other perks more in line with his inflated sense of self.
      Report Abuse

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