Grassley is key Republican senator on health care

If President Obama achieves his biggest goal, reform of health care, he will have some Republicans to thank, and despite some recent tension, the chief one may yet turn out to be Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, one of the few farmers in Congress and one of the most plain-spoken senators we've ever interviewed. (Photo by Lauren Victoria Burke, wdcpix.com)

Grassley and another rural-state senator, Democrat Max Baucus of Montana, have been negotiating for weeks on the issue, as ranking minority member and chairman, respectively, of the Senate Finance Committee. "Getting Mr. Grassley's imprimatur meant getting moderate Republicans, maybe even a sizable chunk of the GOP. It meant shoring up nervous Dems. It meant a health reform that might last," conservative columnist Kim Strassel writes, accurately we think, in The Wall Street Journal.

However, liberal Democrats have "cavalierly ignored" parameters Grassley set early on, "vexing him greatly in the process," Strassel reports. "There are growing signs the Republican may exit the table." The key issue is Obama's desire for a "government-run health insurance program -- the public option," which Grassley warned in March would not fly. He moved toward a compromise proposed by Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, for a nonprofit cooperative like those created in the 1930s to provide electricity in rural areas, but said it should not depend on public funds.

"Left to their camaraderie, Messrs. Baucus and Grassley might hammer this out. But Senate liberals, who never wanted compromise, are forcing Mr. Baucus to choose between their bread and Mr. Grassley's butter," Strassel writes. And she opines, "The sight of the Republican most committed to getting a deal being dissed by the White House and a maniacal Senate leadership will dissuade further GOP compromise." (Read more)