Key House Liberal: No Public Option, No Deal

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Amid the praise from Democrats for Sen. Olympia Snowe’s vote to help pass a health care bill from the Finance Committee, liberal members of both the House and the Senate remain concerned about the shape the health care bill is taking.

On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Rep. Raul Grijalva, the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said he will join liberal colleagues in voting against any health care reform bill that doesn’t include a strong “public option” that would compete with private insurers.

“I venture to say that without a robust public option, a bill cannot get out of the House of Representatives,” said Grijalva, D-Ariz. “If that’s not in there, I can’t support it.”

Grijalva called it a “waste of time” to try to try to address the concerns of Snowe, R-Maine, when Democrats have the votes to pass a bill without any Republican support.

“Obviously it worries many of us a great deal that we’re going to basically write the legislation to cater to a vote or maybe two votes in the Senate on the Republican side,” Grijalva said. “The fact of the matter is I think at the end of the day there’s going to be unanimity among the Republicans, both in the House and in the Senate, to vote against any health care reform.”

“So I think it is a waste of time for the White House and to some extent for leadership to continue to cater to one vote, when in reality the best opportunity to pass it is [with] a solid, unified caucus of the Democrats pushing for reform with a robust public option.”

He rejected Snowe’s proposal that a public option be applied through a “trigger” mechanism, where it would kick into place only if the private sector doesn’t provide the savings Congress expects.

“The trigger will never occur. That’s our fear,” Grijalva said. “So the consequence of a trigger is effectively to kill a public option.”

Grijalva also said the White House has made a commitment to stakeholders to take up immigration reform next year, even though big legislative items are difficult to tackle in congressional election years.

“That is a commitment both in the political sense, and in a moral sense, that was made to many people. And I think the Latino community invested in hope in this election, and in overwhelming numbers to help his fine administration and this new Congress that we have in this country. I think they’re looking for a reciprocal response. And immigration reform is that response we want, that’s the commitment that was made.”

Click HERE to see the interview with Rep. Raul Grijalva.

We also chatted with Ana Marie Cox of Air America, who said liberals are frustrated after months’ of committee talks that were designed to draw the vote of a single Republican senator.

“We’re now crafting legislation to please a single person. One person. And that is tremendously frustrating,” she told us. “And if people can make that case to voters, I think they will be frustrated with that kind of negotiation, and hopefully the moderate Democrats will gain some spine.”

Watch the full discussion with Ana Marie Cox, including some our nominees for Least Powerful People in DC (in homage to GQ, which came out with its “most powerful” list this week), HERE.

Blago Inks Six-Figure Book Deal

ABC News’ David Chalian reports: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed a lucrative six figure book deal to tell his side of the story concerning the alleged selling of the vacant U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.

“He does not intend to pull any punches and will reveal information and provide insights that will at times be embarrassing to himself as well as to others,” said Blagojevich spokesman Glenn Selig.

The former governor signed the deal with independent publisher Phoenix Books, but the exact amount he will be paid was not disclosed.

“The governor chose to go with a large independent company because he wanted to tell his story without any restrictions over content that might’ve come with a major publishing house,” said Selig.

The book, which has a working title of “The Governor,” is set to be released in October.

The announcement from the Blagojevich camp comes on a day when Illinois Democrats are still dealing with the ramifications of Blagojevich’s handling of the U.S. Senate appointment.

Of course, there are likely to be few days between now and November 2010 when Illinois Democrats won’t be dealing with the Blago/Burris fallout.

Blago Inks Six-Figure Book Deal

ABC News’ David Chalian reports: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed a lucrative six figure book deal to tell his side of the story concerning the alleged selling of the vacant U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.

“He does not intend to pull any punches and will reveal information and provide insights that will at times be embarrassing to himself as well as to others,” said Blagojevich spokesman Glenn Selig.

The former governor signed the deal with independent publisher Phoenix Books, but the exact amount he will be paid was not disclosed.

“The governor chose to go with a large independent company because he wanted to tell his story without any restrictions over content that might’ve come with a major publishing house,” said Selig.

The book, which has a working title of “The Governor,” is set to be released in October.

The announcement from the Blagojevich camp comes on a day when Illinois Democrats are still dealing with the ramifications of Blagojevich’s handling of the U.S. Senate appointment.

Of course, there are likely to be few days between now and November 2010 when Illinois Democrats won’t be dealing with the Blago/Burris fallout.

timulus Deal? Not So Fast

ABC News? Jonathan Karl reports: Earlier this afternoon, Senate leaders triumphantly announced a deal on a $789 billion stimulus plan.

The deal was to be made official at a joint House-Senate conference committee meeting at 3 p.m. ET. Several members of the committee showed up. The cameras were rolling. Staff filled the room. So did reporters.

Then the meeting was been postponed.

The problem: Liberals in the House are objecting to the amount of money in the bill for school construction — apparently significantly less than either the $79 billion approved by the House or the $39 billion approved by the Senate.

Another problem: Some House Democrats say the bill gives states too much discretion on how to use some of the money intended for education.

Some Senate Democrats are unhappy, too. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said there is just not enough money in the bill for school construction.

?Every school in America will get $10,000 bucks if they’re lucky,? Harkin said, guessing that might be enough to buy two energy-efficient windows.

?And what’s that going to do for them?? he asked. ?We’re trying to add new heating facilities. We’re trying to add renovations. And doing it by formula doesn’t do it.?

Harkin said he’d ultimately vote for the deal, but he doesn’t like the concessions made to get the support of the moderate Republicans.

?I’m just dismayed at the process,? Harkin said. ?I think that we, on our side, caved in too much in order to appease a few people. I just think we should have held strong on some of these things and seen if we could have passed it. If not, then you come back and try to fix it.?

All signs suggest that this will be worked out. But right now: impasse.

UPDATE: To quell the last-minute rebellion by House Democratic leaders, who were unhappy with the scaled-down bill, senators increased the funds allocated to states for school construction. In terms of the overall deal, the approximate top-line numbers include about 282 billion in tax cuts, which is lower than the $376 billion passed by the Senate, but more than $264 billion passed by House and roughly $507 billion in spending, for a total cost of $789 billion. These numbers are likely to change as they go through the Congressional Budget Office.

Stimulus Deal-Makers Thanked in Radio Ads

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports:

Americans United for Change, a liberal advocacy group, is launching 60-second radio ads in Maine, Pennsylvania and Nebraska to thank the three Republicans — Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter — and one Democrat — Ben Nelson — who brokered a $827 billion stimulus deal in the U.S. Senate.

“Last month, nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs — 20,000 a day — more than 800 an hour,” says the ad’s narrator. “The clock’s ticking — and our economy continues to get worse and worse.

“That’s why it’s critical that the Senate pass President Obama’s jobs and economic recovery bill right away.”

The Maine version of the ad continues with the narrator saying: “Fortunately, Maine’s two Senators — Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are providing the leadership we need to get the job done.”

The ads encourage listeners to call the senators to urge them to “keep fighting for a plan to get our economy moving again.”

To give the package a bipartisan sheen, the Americans United for Change group notes that the stimulus has the support of both organized labor, which typically aligns with Democrats, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which typically aligns with Republicans.

The ads begin airing on Monday and will run for a few days while the Senate votes on cloture, which cuts off debate, as well as final passage.

Americans United for Change estimates that the cost of the ads will end up being between $10,000 and $15,000.

Listen to the Specter ad here.

Listen to the Nelson ad here.

Listen to the Collins and Snowe ad here.