Lieberman: Public Option Is "Wrong" - Face The Nation - CBS News

Renews Vow to Filibuster Any Health Care Reform Legislation that Includes Gov't-Backed Coverage

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  Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on "Face the Nation,"
  

• Play CBS Video Video Sen. Lieberman On Public Option

  On "Face The Nation" Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said that those who want a public option are preventing health care reform from getting done.

(CBS) Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Sunday that anyone supporting a government-backed health insurance plan is not only "wrong," but is jeopardizing the passage of any reform of health care.

"I'm all for health care reform," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We have a system that needs fixing. But we've got some more urgent problems than that, and the first most urgent is to fix our economy, to get at creating jobs again."

Lieberman told moderator Bob Schieffer that the public option "came out of nowhere," and said it was not necessary to achieve what he described as the two goals of health reform: "Make health insurance more affordable, and to extend it to people who don't have it now.

"The public option I think was raised in the last year by people who really want to have a government-controlled health insurance system. That's their right. I think they're wrong.

"But it's not necessary - as President Obama has said over and over again - to achieve the goals that he has. So I hope it's not in there at the end" he told Schieffer.

The senator said that he would filibuster any legislation including a public option. More...