Maine Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joined activist groups today in urging political leaders to include a public option in health care legislation.
The 1st District representative says there is overwhelming public support for a plan to compete with private health insurers, even though it is not on President Obama's agenda as he meets today with Congressional leaders to discuss health care reform.
"Sometimes you have to advance a good idea, show how much public support there is and then see what the votes are," she says.
Pingree says that she hopes the health care bill gets bipartisan support. But if there is ultimately no agreement, she says a health care bill should be passed with just Democratic votes.