Baucus Touts His Bipartisan Bill—Alone

Max Baucus took to the Wall Street Journal opinion page today to make the case for the health care reform bill he’s unveiling this morning. “Our plan would lower costs and would not add to the federal deficit,” he declares in the first of many statements about what he repeatedly calls “our plan,” and at one point calls the Senate Finance Committee plan. There’s just one problem: There seems to be no one beside Baucus behind the bill.

The supposedly bi-partisan compromise has lost the support of all three of the Republicans in Baucus’ gang of six, leaving the left side of the aisle wondering why they should bother compromising. Such Democratic heavyweights as John Kerry, Ron Wyden and Jay Rockefeller have all come out against the bill. The Finance Committee has 23 members. “Check the math here,” writes Rick Klein of ABC, “but you kind of need one group or the other to get something out of committee.”