Back in 2009, when Congress was debating the Affordable Care Act, many liberal Democrats felt it did not go far enough — that it should be even more sweeping, even more expansive, even more costly.

Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, one of the Senate’s most liberal Democrats and a veteran of many legislative battles, urged his colleagues on the Left to go ahead and pass the bill. “The key to this is that this modest home, we can put additions onto it in the future,” Harkin told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in December 2009. “But if we don’t have the starter home, we’re never going to be able to put those additions on.”