Bernie Sanders Warns That “As of This Point” He is Not Supporting Senate Bill

Earlier I looked at the how the left was questioning whether the Senate health care legislation is worthy of support. Many of the worst changes, such as eliminating the public option and the Medicare buy-in, came about in attempts to appease Joe Lieberman. There is also the possibility that Ben Nelson might not vote for the measure after his attempts to block funding for abortion failed. Now there is danger of losing votes from the left with Bernie Sanders announcing he will not support the bill in its current form:

I’m struggling with this. As of this point, I’m not voting for the bill. … I’m going to do my best to make this bill a better bill, a bill that I can vote for, but I’ve indicated both to the White House and the Democratic leadership that my vote is not secure at this point. And here is the reason. When the public option was withdrawn, because of Lieberman’s action, what I worry about is how do you control escalating health care costs?

Any hope the Harry Reid will now put the public option and Medicare buy-in back in the bill to appease Sanders and win over his vote?

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