Harkin: Health reform will pass – with or without GOP support

Sen. Tom Harkin. Photo: WDCpix

Calling yesterday’s health care summit in Washington the “the final port of call” in achieving health care reform, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) says he can see “that final harbor… without binoculars,” adding that he thinks action on a health care bill will be taken in the next four to six weeks. As the Iowa Independent reports, he emphasizes that the bill may be modified, but it won’t be rewritten from scratch, as some Republicans have called for, and it will pass with or without Republican support.

“The House is pretty insistent on a public option,” said Harkin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP). “The Senate is a little bit more divided on it. I think in our negotiations with the House in the next week or so there may be some decisions made on that. I just don’t know which way it is going to go,” he said, adding that his personal belief is that the bill will likely not have a public option.

According to a new Research 2000 poll, 62 percent of Minnesotan support inclusion of the public option in reform measures. So far, 24 senators, including Sen. Al Franken, have signed a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid use reconciliation to pass health care reform with a public option.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has indicated she supports a public option and reconciliation but hasn’t signed the letter to Reid.