Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, announced today that he will fight the inclusion of a trigger, an opt-out public option and the Stupak abortion amendment.
A trigger, under which a public option would go into effect only if private insurers fail to meet certain conditions, would fail, Grijalva said.
"The trigger is designed never to be pulled because its conditions will never be met," he said in the press release. "A public option trigger cannot pass the House and will be fought by united voices around the country until it is defeated."
On the opt-out, which would allow states to decline the public option, he said, "No state should be able to restrict the health care choices available to its own people."
And on the Stupak amendment, which bars women from using subsidies to buy insurance plans that cover abortion, as well as barring the public option from providing abortion coverage, Grijalva said he'd fight it.
"I will join with many others in fighting to strip it during conference negotiations," he said.

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artgurrl
November 10, 2009 1:41 PM
I am so glad this man is in congress and in the conference negotiations. We need more like him and Bernie Sanders in the Senate.
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creo13
November 10, 2009 2:03 PM
What is the process after conference negotiations? Does it go back to the housd and senate for another vote? How many votes do you need?
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creo13
November 10, 2009 2:05 PM
What is the process after conference negotiations? Does it go back to the house and senate for another vote? How many votes do you need?
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Xantar
November 10, 2009 2:26 PM in reply to creo13
After conference, the bill has to be voted by a majority of the House and the Senate. In theory, a senator can still filibuster the bill after conference. In practice, that's not going to happen because when a bill has gotten that far, the fiery hatred of 59 Democrats will descend on the head of anybody who doesn't vote for cloture. Even Lieberman wouldn't dare try it at this point.
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