Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to announce today his Senate health care bill, which includes a public health insurance option allowing to states to opt out. The senator spent Friday weighing support for different public option proposals and figuring out what it will take to convince other Senators to support his bill. If Reid proceeds, he will most likely be doing so without committed support from the necessary 60 senators needed to break a filibuster. To win over his colleagues, he is tailoring the bill to the centrist Democrats, believed by many to be a key constituent in the fight for health care reform. Even without their support, Reid aides say the senator believes the public option is the right move and that the senator is "cautiously optimistic he can get the votes necessary".

Reid's bill comes at a crucial time for Democrats in Congress. With two months left for legislation, Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are delicately finessing the health care bill enough to the left to satisfy liberals, who feel alienated by the Obama administration's foot shuffling on issues like Guantanamo Bay and the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gay troops, and to the right for conservatives who oppose a policy heavy on spending and government regulation. While the public option was considered a dead issue several weeks ago, Reid's ability to once again make it a realistic option is seen as a move to appease a liberal base that will be considering Reid in Nevada's 2010 Senatorial election. If Reid finalizes the bill today, his office will send it to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for scoring and it will be presented to Senate Democrats at their weekly Tuesday policy lunch.

While Reid may be "cautiously optimistic" about his support, others are less hopeful. Speaker Pelosi has indicated that House approval of the public option is less important now that it appears the Senate may support a version of the public option in its bill. Democrats gauged opinion amongst themselves during a closed door session in the Capital basement last Friday. Whip James Clyburn and Caucus Chairman John Larson read out the names of members of both houses, asking if leaders would support the bill as is if it included a public plan that reimburses doctors at a rate five percent higher than the one Medicare currently offers. At the end of the day there was still no sign the House is ready to move on a strong public option plan.

Republicans continue to object to any form of public option arguing that it will drive out private insurers and allow for government takeover of the healthcare system. Senator Mitch McConnell voiced opposition on behalf of all Republican's on ABC's Sunday morning news show "This Week" saying, "I think 100% of Republicans have indicated they don't think having the government in the insurance business is a good idea". One popular alternative to Reid's plan, proposed by moderate Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine, is known as the "trigger mechanism" that would mandate a public option in the future if benchmarks for coverage and costs are unmet by specific deadlines.

Even if Reid passes a bill along to the CBO this afternoon, Democrats recognize that any health care bill debated in Congressional committees will include amendments from both sides. With two months to go, this issue is coming down to the wire in Washington. As California Rep. Xavier Becerra said, "It's a lot closer than people think ... But it's still really tough".