General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If ACA is struck down, are you really so naive as to think single-payer will come to the rescue? [View all]eomer
(3,845 posts)There have been many things similar to the public option that have been passed by the Senate through reconciliation bills. It seems unlikely to me that the parliamentarian would have ruled against it. But like the question of whether there were 50 votes, we don't know for certain whether it would have been ruled acceptable by the parliamentarian because they never asked.
By the way, Senate Majority Leader Reid disagreed with you and thought it could be done in reconciliation and he said he supported doing it through reconciliation:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/reid-will-push-for-public_n_469483.html
But someone convinced him to back off and not pursue it and so the question was never posed to the parliamentarian and a vote was never taken.