Once-spurned Burris may become key vote on health care

WASHINGTON - Sen. Roland W. Burris, once scorned as an improperly appointed interloper to the Senate, has positioned himself as a key player in the health care debate as legislation moves forward.

Burris, appointed to the Senate by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich after Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges and facing impeachment, has vowed to vote against any legislation that does not include a public option provision.

"We should not settle for anything less, and I will not vote for any legislation that does not include a public option," he said in a release Wednesday.

While many Democratic senators have expressed their preference for the inclusion of a public option in a final health care reform plan, few have been willing to reject compromises without it.

Burris, a Chicago Democrat, has tirelessly repeated his stand since the beginning of the debate, taking every opportunity to address the matter from the Senate floor.

Majority Leader Harry Reid and the White House have begun to draft a plan merging the Senate Finance Committee's bill, passed on Tuesday, with legislation passed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP. The finance committee's bill does not include a public option, but the other committee's does.

The final version will go to the Senate floor, where the Democrats' challenge will be to win 60 votes to avoid a Republican filibuster.

With a Senate composed of 58 Democrats, two independents and 40 Republicans, all but one of whom have said they are unbending on their refusal to vote for the measure, every vote on the Democratic side becomes crucial to a final success of a health care reform bill.

But in an interview with the Daily Herald on Thursday, Burris said his position was not going to change, even if health care reform should fail as a result of his vote.

Among different versions of a public option, Burris supports the approach of the Senate HELP Committee, he said.

Such a public health insurance option would be modeled after private insurance - with negotiated rates and providers who are not required to participate in the plan.

But as for now, Burris affirmed he has not been personally contacted by the White House or Senate majority leader Harry Reid to negotiate on his stand.

Not running for election at the end of his term in 2010, Burris says he is in many ways immune from the political pressures many of his colleagues face. Whatever may happen, his Senate career will end next year after he completes one-third of the term for the seat originally held by Barack Obama.

Congressional leaders, including Illinois' other senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, of Springfield, fought the appointment until it was apparent they couldn't legally keep him out of the Senate. Their efforts drew cries of racism from Burris supporters and scorn from the former Illinois Attorney General himself.

Now Burris appears to be using the power of the Senate vote he had to fight to get to a make a difference on health care reform.

"I will continue to be a strong advocate for the public option in any health insurance reform bill that comes before the Senate, and will not vote for a bill that does not include a public option," Burris said in a release, a theme he repeated in his interview with the Daily Herald.

Burris joined 29 fellow senators to sign a letter urging the inclusion of a public option in the health reform legislation.

The letter, addressed to Majority Leader Reid on Oct. 8, expresses concern that "absent a competitive and continuous public insurance option - health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment."

"We are asking for your leadership on ensuring that the merged health reform bill contains a public insurance option," the senators say in their letter.