Jarrett on Pres. Obama: “He’s committed to the public option”

Posted Oct 23, 2009, 7:58 AM PT by Jed Lewison • First broadcast: Oct 23, 2009

Transcript:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Valerie, we had Mike Allen from Politico on earlier this morning, he said Nancy Pelosi didn’t have the votes for a public option and said that there was some suggestion that the President wants a health care reform bill that doesn’t have a public option, but has a trigger in case the insurance companies don’t start playing ball. Is that a fair description of the President’s current position?

VALERIE JARRETT: No, I think the President has always said that he’s committed to the public option. Why? Because he thinks it will create competition and therefore bring down costs. He’s always said he’s open to new ideas, but at this late stage in the game, he still thinks it’s the best option. So I don’t know whether Mike Allen can actually count votes or not. A lot of people said President Obama didn’t have the votes to win, but he did. So we’ll see. He’s committed to it, he’s pushing for it, and he’s absolutely committed to delivering on health care reform this year.

SCARBOROUGH: So, by the White House’s count, do you believe you have enough votes to pass a public option in the House and the Senate?

JARRETT: You know, we’ll see. I think it’s too soon to tell. All I know is that we’re going to keep pushing until the very last moment. But I think it’s important to understand why. We want to bring down the costs. Joe, there’s some states, such as Maine or Alabama, where you only have a couple of insurers, and in those states, you see that the prices are going up. And so what we want to do, on behalf of the American people and our taxpayers, is to bring down those costs so that it’s more affordable. That’s what we think the public option will do.