Just a few more that I wanted to add as they come in.

Chris Dodd:

“I fought for a strong public option – in the HELP Committee and in this merger process – because it is the best way to keep costs low and insurance companies honest,” said Dodd. “Majority Leader Reid has made a bold and right choice to endorse the HELP Committee public option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out. At its core, health care reform is about making insurance more stable and affordable for those who have it, and available to those who don’t, while improving quality and lowering costs. I believe that the public option is a key component to successful reform, and I will continue to lead the fight for it on the Senate floor.”

The HELP Committee public option is basically the Schumer version, as I understand it.

UPDATE: It’s not quite Schumer’s, but not all that different. Here’s a decent look at it. The PHNP did not have much good to say about the HELP Committee’s public option.

Dick Durbin (and this is striking):

Democratic leaders were forced to include a national public health insurance option as part of health care reform by progressive Democratic senators who refused to support anything less, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday [...]

But Reid and the leadership faced this basic math: There is only one Snowe and there are 60 members of the Democratic caucus. If just a few Democrats abandoned the bill, it would fall short even with Snowe’s support.

“It’s a zero-sum situation,” said Durbin, who is in charge of counting votes in the Senate. “If we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we’d end with 61 votes,” he explained, then that’s what leadership would have done.

“But there were some [senators] that felt that that just didn’t go far enough moving toward a public option,” said Durbin, who is himself a backer.

Wow. A real victory for progressives there.

Meanwhile, Jake Tapper tweets that Olympia Snowe is “deeply disappointed” by the inclusion of the opt-out and not the trigger. That is too bad.

…Tom Harkin is on the floor right now, praising Senator Reid for offering “a strong public option” in the bill, “basically the version that the HELP Committee and the Senator from North Carolina (Kay Hagan)” worked to pass – another confirmation that we’re talking about the HELP Committee bill. “This bill will turn the tables and provide help for small businesses and the self-employed.”

…Jay Rockefeller, a key liberal vote on health care, endorses the compromise:

An opt-out clause would protect the public option, and would help secure the necessary votes to pass health care reform, without compromising on the type of coverage or level of affordability. This will still save money and provide a real public option for people, and I am glad Leader Reid is moving forward with this strong health care reform agenda.

…Sherrod Brown:

“A public option in the Senate health reform bill is an important victory for taxpayers, middle class families, and American businesses. For too long, insurance companies haven’t played it straight with the American public. They’ve limited or denied medical care based on gender, location, and pre-existing health conditions, they’ve placed arbitrary caps on how much care you can receive, and they’ve fattened up their premiums with bloated administrative costs and record CEO salaries. Some of these insurers even reduce benefits for women if they’ve been victims of domestic violence. And they’ve been able to get away with it because of a lack of competition. A public option will inject much-needed competition into the insurance industry, keep HMOs honest, and ensure that families across the country have a choice between affordable, quality health plans.

“I applaud Majority Leader Reid for pursuing a strong, public option that is similar to the one we crafted in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. While the bill would allow a state to opt-out of offering the public option to its residents, I am confident that the states will choose to put middle class families ahead of the insurance industry.”

I am not at all confident of that, and think the language in the bill needs to offer some incentives to the states to take the public option, since the government would be on the hook for more money if they opt out.

Sen. Arlen Specter just thanked Sen. Reid on the floor for adding a public option.

…more anonymous White House sniping:

An administration official went so far as to call Reid’s move “dangerous” but quickly followed by saying Reid knows his caucus better than anyone and will therefore have the support of the White House.