I’m thrilled that something finally made it out of the Senate Finance Committee. Now maybe we can move on. I am constantly annoyed by how much attention Olympia Snowe gets. As Grayson pointed out: nobody elected her President, and she’s had far too much influence on the process so far. It’s time for that to end.

As all the conservative Dems crow about how the Baucus bill costs so little (roughly $800 billion), it’s important to point out that the HELP Committee Bill offered by Kennedy/Dodd, which includes a strong public option, scored in at only $611 billion. Somehow the cable talkers aren’t pointing that out.

If you’re for fiscal responsibility in health care, then you have to be for a public option.

Update: The Washington Post has a good graphic up comparing the Finance bill, HELP bill, and the combined House bills on cost, coverage, and features.