Schumer: Senators know they'll have to 'give a little' in health debate

Senators on the left and center of the Democratic Party will have to give a little if health reform is to pass, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday.

Schumer said that Democrats are committed to enacting new healthcare legislation, and would be willing to strike deals to come to an agreeable solution in the Senate.

"I think every one of the 60 Democratic senators, you can even tell it in the tone of some of the remarks, wants to have a bill," Schumer said Monday during an interview on NBC. "We all know we're going to have to give a little; that's what happened in the vote Saturday night, that's what happened here."

While all 60 Democrats in the Senate stuck together to vote on Saturday to begin debate on their healthcare bill, several centrist members -- most notably Sens. Joe Liemberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) -- quickly cautioned that they would not vote for the bill in its current form, mostly because of its inclusion of the public healthcare option.

Schumer downplayed the threats from Lieberman and Nelson and other centrists, asserting that Democratic leaders never expected to pass the bill they introduced in its current form.

"We never expected the bill that Leader Reid put on the floor to pass exactly as-is," Schumer argued. "Everyone has their ideas on the public option, for instance."

But the senior New York Democrat confidently predicted, as he as throughout healthcare negotiations, that the public option would prevail, and that all Democrats would be on-board with the final bill in the end.

"I believe at the end of the day the moderate, opt-out public option will prevail," Schumer said. "It will get done. If we have to do it with just 60 Democratic votes, we will come together and do it."

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