I haven't had a chance to post about this, even though it's fairly important.
Senator Baucus never allowed Senator Wyden's Free Choice Amendment to come up for a vote in the Finance Committee markup because, Baucus says, the CBO didn't have a chance to score the amendment. FDL reported:
Wyden was asked to not criticize Baucus's terrible bill in exchange for getting a vote on his prized amendment. To promise Wyden a vote, only to declare the amendment out of order (when it should not have been) is a powerful slight to Wyden. If there was indeed such a deal, it makes the Baucus blindsiding a serious violation of trust.
Consequently, Wyden might not vote for the Finance Committee bill. If Rockefeller, who is also no fan of the bill, joins Wyden, the bill won't pass the Finance Committee. If the bill fails, Baucus will have sabotaged his own plan.
However, the dissing of Wyden could actually give the Free Choice amendment some strength. In order to get Wyden's vote, the White House and Baucus could agree to just push it into the bill. This would be extraordinarily good news. Allowing everyone the option, regardless of employment status, to choose the public option would give it some serious power.