As a leader of the Senate’s Democratic centrists, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has become a critical player in the effort to pass health care reform in Congress this year and political experts believe he will make his moves very carefully as he eyes he own political future.
In March, Bayh began convening a group of more than a dozen centrist Democrats who meet regularly to try put their moderate stamp on major legislation. The group includes Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who heeded moderate calls to whittle down the cost of the fiscal 2010 budget.
Aides say Bayh, 53, the fiscally conservative former Indiana governor, has not made up his mind on health care reform, which is working its way through the Senate on two separate tracks. One proposal would create a robust public health insurance option, while a bipartisan plan would create a national health insurance cooperative.
Once on Barack Obama’s short list for the vice presidency, Bayh could be one of the biggest obstacles to the president achieving health care reform, his top agenda item.
“It is all about what will advance his political career,” said University of Indiana political scientist Brian Vargus. “I do not think he has given up on the notion that he can hold a national office, either as vice president or president.”
With the addition this week of Al Franken, Senate Democrats will control 60 votes, enough to move a bill without worry of a Republican filibuster. But first, Senate Democrats need cooperation from everyone in their own party. That’s where Bayh holds considerable clout with his moderate group, which includes Sens. Tom Carper, of Delaware, Blanche Lincoln, of Arkansas, Mark Warner, of Virginia, Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana and Ben Nelson, of Nebraska.
Many of the members of the group are on the fence when it comes to the creation of a public health insurance option, which the Obama administration wants. They are worried about the staggering cost of such a program, as well as the potential for public insurance to wipe out the private insurance industry.
Bayh has insisted he is not out to derail the Democratic agenda, but he signaled the group would not rubber-stamp it, either.
“On most bills, you’ve got to get the 60 votes in the Senate,” Bayh said in an interview on MSNBC. “And that’s going to be hard and it is going to take the centrists to get us there. So we want to help make the changes we need. That’s what our group is all about.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., knows he will have a challenge getting the moderates in line.
“Senator Reid supports every effort that puts real solutions above political posturing,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
Vargus said he believes Bayh will hold off on taking sides in the health care debate.
“Whether he will vote for the public option is really going to come down to his reading of whether he thinks it is likely to pass and what benefit he will get from it.”
