Despite Schumer's work, 'public option' not a NY issue
About a year ago, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee chairman assigned Sen. Charles Schumer to handle what became the lightning rod of the health overhaul bill: a public option. Schumer went to work in vintage fashion. He scoped out the range of views and crafted a compromise, with a catchy name - Plan USA, which he first unveiled at a hearing last May. But by August the White House had effectively sacrificed the public option to win over moderate Democrats. Schumer then focused on New York - where Gov. David A. Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberghad hammered him for failing to win a sufficient stream of Medicaid funds for the state.
To get that money, Schumer said he negotiated directly with the president. The public option? It never was a New York issue.
- Tom Brune
'A million years isn't enough' NewsdayTV goes behind the scenes of the day Rex Heuermann was sentenced for the Gilgo killings.
'A million years isn't enough' NewsdayTV goes behind the scenes of the day Rex Heuermann was sentenced for the Gilgo killings.
