House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set out
to once again quash progressives' hopes this week, saying on Tuesday
that the public option has no place in a health care compromise. But
Illinois' own Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Phil Hare, and Danny Davis have
joined with over a hundred of their colleagues in pushing back. They've
signed onto a letter
drafted by fellow Reps. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to use reconciliation
to adopt a public health insurance program with a simple majority. "The
public option," Polis tells the Huffington Post, "is not dead."