Feingold: No healthcare reform before Christmas, if ever

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has got to be frustrated by the process surrounding the healthcare reform proposals in Congress. While people like Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, get all the attention, liberals like him are left out of the public discussion. (In the House, the liberals are more influential than in the Senate, where the crucial votes are more likely to come from the center.)

The senator showed some of that frustration recently, telling constituents recently, "Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas, and maybe not even then, if this ever happens. The divisions are so deep. [I've] never seen anything like that."

According to the Lakeland Times, Feingold later added, "We're headed in the direction of doing absolutely nothing, and I think that's unfortunate."

(Hat-tip to Political Wire.)

― Alex Koppelman