(August 27, 2008 - Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America)

Speaking with Bob Sceiffer, Democratic Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) intimated that he may block the healthcare reform bill released on Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid if he believes that the bill is not “fiscally responsible.”  He did however, state that he would make a decision on his vote until he has an opportunity to read the language of the bill (yes, I know this seems unthinkable).  He went on to say that the public option is not a sticking point for him, but he understands the reality that it is for many senators situated to both his right and left. Scheiffer asked him about the possibility of Harry Reid attempting to use the process of Budget Reconciliation (Nuclear Option) if he is only able to gather 50 votes and Bayh said that he believed that it would be an unpopular decision on Capitol Hill, but it remained a viable option available to Senate Democrats.

Bayh is one of those unfortunate Dems who typically finds himself on the fringe of these battles not because he is the extreme left of his party, but because he is quite the politician and always manages to find the center when it is convenient.  I would not pay him the discourtesy of referring to him as being a Democrat version of a McCain or a Graham, but he is close.

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Tags: Bob Scheiffer, budget reconciliation, CBS, Ecan Bayh, Harry Reid, healthcare, interview, nuclear option, public option, senator

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 3:02 am and is filed under DOMESTIC ISSUES, ECONOMY-BUSINESS, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.