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From Kennedy's office:
SENATOR KENNEDY ESTABLISHES COMMITTEE WORKING GROUPS ON HEALTH REFORMWashington, DC— Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, today established three working groups of the committee to deal with critical issues of health reform. Under Senator Kennedy’s direction, the working groups will concentrate on three areas essential to comprehensive reform: (1) prevention and public health, (2) improvements in the quality of care, and (3) insurance coverage. Senator Tom Harkin will lead the working group on prevention and public health, Senator Barbara Mikulski will lead the working group on improvements in quality, and Senator Hillary Clinton will lead the working group on insurance coverage.If the reporting is right, then Clinton won't be leading that working group for very long. Though one vaguely wonders if this is a sign that she won't take the Secretary of State job. In any case, this comes on the heels of Kennedy's return to the Senate yesterday, where he released a statement saying, "It’s good to be back in the Senate. I am particularly looking forward to seeing my staff and my colleagues and to working in the current brief session on a realistic new stimulus package to help our fellow Americans who are suffering in this economic crisis. I will also continue to lay the ground work for early action by Congress on health reform when President Obama takes office in January. We’ve been making real progress in our discussions about a consensus approach, and I’m optimistic we’ll succeed." That mirrors his staff director Mike Myers' comments about a "one bill" approach, and it suggests Kennedy is hoping to cut around Baucus by gaining consensus from both the Obama administration and the Senate Democratic leadership on a single vehicle -- presumably not the Baucus plan, or else he would have named it as such. That said, the Baucus plan is just a proposal for now, not yet legislation. And there's a reason for that. Moreover, it was by design quite similar to the Massachusetts plan (plus a public insurance option), which is what most assumed Kennedy would support. So you could still imagine Kennedy and Baucus coming together on a piece of legislation that Baucus calls the evolution of his plan and Kennedy calls the "consensus plan," and that way both get to take credit.
