Can Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer Keep Lid On Public-Option Tensions?
Glenn Thrush and Patrick O’Connor – Politico House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was telling reporters Tuesday night that a health care bill might survive without a public option when Nancy Pelosi bounded to the microphones to cut him off. “In order to pass a bill in the House, it must have a public option,” the speaker said. Pelosi’s message wasn’t lost on anyone who heard it: In this House, I’m the boss. Pelosi and Hoyer, longtime rivals and often effective allies, have chafed against each other during the tense, tiring negotiations over health care reform, with Pelosi voicing the concerns of progressives and Hoyer publicly adopting a more conciliatory tone in his role as ambassador to the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs. So far, the tension between the two has actually worked to the leaders’ advantage — with Pelosi assuaging the left wing of the Democratic Caucus and Hoyer, himself a longtime advocate of the public option, soothing the increasingly powerful right flank. But the relat
