AFL-CIO: Baucus bill 'absolutely fails'

The healthcare bill released by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday "absolutely fails" to meet basic reform needs, the president of the AFL-CIO said Wednesday.

"Despite months of painful negotiations, the Senate Finance Committee proposal released today absolutely fails to meet the most basic health care needs of working families and it fails to meet the expectations we have set for our nation," outgoing AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a blistering statement.

Organized labor groups have been among the most ardent supporters of healthcare reform, and especially supportive of the inclusion of a public (or "government-run") plan in the bill.

The bill introduced by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today eschews the public option, establishing non-profit healthcare cooperatives instead.

"The Senate Finance proposal, sadly, is little more than a throwback to the failed policies of the last three decades that advantaged corporations over taxpayers and bestowed special breaks on the wealthy while ignoring the middle class," Sweeney said.

He also called on Democrats to substantially revamp the Finance bill, which has been carefully hashed out in months of debate among the committee's members and the so-called "group of six" bipartisan negotiators.

"We are counting on finance committee Democrats to fix the bill and side with working families, not insurance companies," Sweeney said.