Senate Committee Kills Public Option

Moderates have beaten liberals within the Democratic Party on a key piece of health-care legislation: The Senate Finance Committee has voted to kill a public-insurance plan that would compete with private insurers, and it wasn’t very close. The 15-to-8 vote bodes poorly for the public option’s chances when the whole Senate debates it. Five committee Democrats, including Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, voted to defeat the measure.