10/6/09: TWD's Agenda For The Day- Wyden Anger Continues, As Baucus Blows It Again

I guess all of that guidance from the insurance companies have not only made almost everyone outside of Washington angry at him. It has also caused an apparent force between the most liberal colleagues of his own party. And the tension is growing.

The Senate Finance Committee vote won't happen today. It has been pushed back until later this week or even next week, ostensibly so the CBO can come up with a final score. But it may have more to do with the fact that they don't have the votes.

And now it looks like Ron Wyden might be in that column too. Since Baucus can only lose one Democrat and still get something through a committee with 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans, he has to bring one of them back on the reservation.

I got a tip last week shortly after Wyden's midnight outburst, when he was told that the CBO messed up and didn't score his amendment and therefore there would be no vote. I called around and was able to substantiate most (but not all) of it with other sources -- but offer it up here in its entirety FWIW:

I've just spoken to several high up staffers I know on the Hill who work in the Senate. One works for a top Democrat on the Finance Committee/Wyden. Get this: the person sat through the process until 1 am and gave some really wild details. Wyden was promised a vote on his amendment to keep him from slamming the bill too much during the process. At the last second Baucus said "no way" because the CBO didn't have a cost estimate. Well things went ballistic. Wyden slammed the bill as a joke. Wyden is a "no" vote on the bill and will be on MSNBC about what a crock it is for having a closed off public option. After Baucus screwed Wyden some Senate staffers, furious with this whole ordeal and watching liberals on the committee get slapped, went into the parking lot and tore off their Obama bumper stickers as Nancy Anne DeParle went rushing after some! Holy cow, my friend said the mood is as intense as ever seen between the White House and Senators. They said something is going to give here.

Wyden has every right to be fully apoplectic here. Just like the American people, Baucus has screwed him over (and the White House hasn't stepped in to stop this of course). And what is up with the CBO, who is suppose to be running a tight ship in this most crucial job? Why were they so late in trying to score Wyden's amendment? That's a legit question to ask from an outsider's perspective here.

Again, as I have said yesterday, I surly will shed no tears if this extraordinary possibility that the Senate Finance Committee comes up with no bill on health care comes to for-wishing. It would be the just desserts for Baucus, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, and all the other selfish idiots that have denied a public option on this bill in the status quo of status quo committees. And it should, and probably would, marginalized them for being so damn beholden to the lobbyist that don't care about the American people.

I will get the popcorn, because it will be totally humiliating for Max Baucus.