With U.S. Senators getting down to the nitty-gritty of the health care bill in front of them, we knew compromises were going to be in order to get the bill hammered out to a passable form. Sure enough, two major steps were taken yesterday that might help the bill pass down the road. The more important of the two was an agreement relating to the public option - the government-run health plan proposed as part of the bill - though specifics about the bill were hard to come by as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wasn't exactly forthcoming about details. (The initial mystery surrounding the agreement even prompted our own Sen. Dick Durbin to tell the New York Times late yesterday, “I have no idea," when asked if an agreement had been reached.) While the new deal doesn't take the public option completely off the table, it does make it a last resort of sorts. As for the details that are known, the L.A. Times reports: more ›

Remember U.S. Sen. Roland Burris? He was all the talk here, there, and everywhere in the first half of 2009 for all the wrong reasons. But now he finds himself in the Capitol Hill spotlight once more but this time for reasons actually pertaining to legislation. Burris is now making waves for his refusal to support any health care reform plan that doesn't include a public option. Why does this matter? Because if Burris sticks to his gun - and why not? He's not running for re-election and has nothing to lose - that could mean Senate Democrats won't have the 60 votes necessary (there are 58 Dems and two independents in the U.S. Senate, currently) to stop a Republican filibuster. The Associated Press says this in a profile (via Crain's): more ›