Maine 2nd District Congressman Mike Michaud appears to be out of sync with fellow members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats in the House, on the issue of federal health care reform.
The Blue Dogs today sought to limit the bounds of discussion on reform, releasing a memo outlining the conditions under which they would be willing to support new health care legislation.
In particular, the Blue Dogs are seeking to severely limit the size and scope of any public option passed by the House. They are also demanding a "trigger" in the legislation that would delay the implementation of such a plan until private insurers have failed to meet "specific availability and cost targets."
The coalition has 51 members and, if they voted as a block, could potentially side with Republicans to scuttle health reform legislation in the House.
Michaud apparently opposes placing these kinds of limits on the health care debate.
"The congressman believes that we should explore all options with regard to health care reform," said Michaud's Communications Director Ed Gilman by email today. "He worked with the Blue Dogs to encourage the committees to have an open and bipartisan process in the formulation of legislation. He thinks this is too big of an issue to limit debate."
Gilman also pointed to a statement made by Rep. Michaud less than a week ago in which he called a public plan a "major improvement" and stated that he is "committed to a public insurance option."
While these statements leave Michaud with plenty of wiggle room on the details of any government-backed health care option, it's clear that he doesn't currently support the stringent conditions proposed by his fellow Blue Dogs.
In related news, Jason Levesque, an Auburn Republican and owner of a telemarketing management firm, has announced that he will seek the GOP nomination to challenge Michaud for the 2nd District congressional seat in 2010.