House Blue Dog leader hails Baucus health bill

The Senate Finance Committee's healthcare bill won praise from a key centrist Democrat in the House, hailing it as an "important step forward" in the effort to achieve health reform.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), the co-chairwoman of the centrist blog of Blue Dog Democrats, gave the healthcare legislation released by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) a warm reception in a statement this morning.

"Today, the Senate took an important step forward as Congress moves to send responsible health care reform legislation to the President’s desk," Herseth Sandlin said. "I applaud Chairman Baucus and his colleagues in the Senate for their progress today and look forward to working together as we move to make health care reform a reality."

The Blue Dog leader's praise for the more centrist Finance committee bill puts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a tough spot, as Pelosi struggles to manage House centrists' concerns, as well as House liberals' refusal to vote for a health bill which lacks a public (or "government-run") option, as the Finance bill does.

Herseth Sandlin argued that the new Senate bill met Blue Dogs' key concerns about healthcare reform.

"The draft released by Chairman Baucus addresses two central goals of the Blue Dog Coalition and the Administration:  It is deficit neutral, and it takes real steps to bring down the cost of health care over the long term," she said. "Meeting these standards, also set forth by the President, is critical to reining in deficits and protecting our economy for future generations of Americans."