BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE: Dem sources say Speaker Nancy Pelosi determined last night that there are NOT the votes for a 'robust public option,' meaning the Speaker will likely move to one of the two other, less sweeping public options being considered. 'Votes aren't there,' a top official said. 'The progressives are always more optimistic than reality.' But the Speaker knows how to count real votes to find out the truth, and she wants to release a bill that will get at least 218 votes. Aides say the count was somewhat of a surprise, but not completely. It's a disappointment to liberals, but could help House members in conservative districts. The Speaker plans to roll out the House bill with a big ceremony on the West Front. That was planned for Tuesday or Wednesday, and may still happen then. But last night's t ally could delay the timeline a bit.
VANDEHEI'S TAKE: Pelosi's decision -- coupled with a significant turn of events yesterday during a private White House meeting -- points to an increasingly likely compromise for a trigger option for a government plan. Administration officials have been telling POLITICO for weeks now that this the most likely compromise because it can probably satisfy liberals -- albeit only reluctantly and after many vent frustration and some even threaten to walk away from the bill. This would clear the way for backers to sneak a limited public option through the Senate by attracting moderate Democrats and then to win President Barack Obama's signature. There has been a flurry of rumors that a robust government option remains viable. But top House Democrats privately concede that is wishful thinking that ignores the power of moderate Democrats in this debate.
OBAMA APPEARS TO PREFER TRIGGER, reports POLITICO's Carrie Budoff Brown: 'Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward putting a public insurance option in the Senate health reform bill - a signal that Reid increasingly believes he can get the votes needed for a plan that would allow states to opt out of the program, senators said Thursday. But President Barack Obama stopped short of endorsing the approach during a hastily called meeting Thursday with the Senate Democratic leadership at the White House, according to an administration official. Instead, one Democratic source said Obama appeared to prefer a 'trigger' option put forth by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who has proposed allowing states to join a national insurance plan if affordable coverage was not widely available. This would suggest the president has not abandoned his goal of striking a bipartisan deal. ... Reid has told fellow Democrats that he's leanin g toward a version that would create a national health insurance program but give individual states the chance to decline participation, or 'opt out.'