Source:  CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY, 11/18/09

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to discuss a final draft of health care overhaul legislation, as well as its cost, with his fellow Democrats in a closed-door meeting Wednesday afternoon, a senior Democratic aide said Wednesday.

Reid has been working for weeks to craft a bill that would fall under President Obama’s target cost of $900 billion over 10 years and would be able to win the 60 votes needed to allow floor action. During the caucus meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Reid will review the legislation and a cost analysis by Congressional Budget Office, the aide said.

Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd , who shepherded a health care bill through the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he was confident that moderate Democrats would come on board.

“These are serious people who — in a couple cases — have worked very hard at this for a long time,” Dodd said, emerging from a regular meeting of committee chairmen. “They’re not outliers . . . My sense is: Leave some space now. They know all the questions. They know all the answers. Let them settle on where they need to be on all of this.”

Asked if he thought a public option could survive in the Senate, Dodd said “of course,” adding that crafting a bill was a “dynamic process.”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., said Reid told him the bill language would be released Wednesday. “We look forward to reading it,” McConnell said.

McConnell said he had no information about the substance of the bill but that he did not anticipate it would draw any Republican support. “I don’t think it will be dramatically different from the House bill,” he said.

Reid, D-Nev., has been working with CBO since Oct. 26 to draft the legislation. The majority leader plans to hold a vote to proceed to a shell bill possibly as early as Friday and, if not then, sometime prior to the Thanksgiving recess. Reid has said he plans to offer the final draft as an amendment when debate begins in earnest after the break.