Burris says he'd support health bill in current form

Senate health legislation would win Sen. Roland Burris's (D-Ill.) vote in its current form unless the public option is removed, the senator said Monday.

Burris, the single-term Illinois lawmaker who had threatened to vote against a health bill without a strong public option, said he'd support the bill on which the Senate will begin debate today, though warning colleagues to not take his vote for granted.

"It's not a perfect bill, but it has a lot of good parts to it. It certainly carries a public option, but I'm not happy with the opt-out provision," Burris told Essence magazine's website. "When it's debated on the floor, I certainly would like to improve it. If we can't improve that, since the bill has so many other favorable parts to it, then we'll go along with that."

But Burris warned that if the public option is weakened or eliminated, as some centrist Democrats and Republicans may seek in the coming weeks, he'd vote against the bill.

"But if for some reason, the public option is amended out then it would not get my vote," he said.

Burris's pledge adds stress to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) leftward flank as the leader works to gather 60 votes to break a filibuster and pass a health bill, an effort which may eventually involve concessions to centrist Democrats who are unhappy with the public option.

"This is about my commitment to being a senator; I'm not playing games," Burris said, later adding: "I'm sure my colleagues and I will work out a compromise that is in the interest of the people of America. And that's what we're going to work on."

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