Bicameralism at work

Having attended a great conference on bicameralism last weekend, I'm still very sensitive to congressional dynamics that involve actors in the two chambers explicitly taking into account each other's actions as they make their own decisions.

A great example appeared in today's Roll Call, in an article about House leadership efforts to bring a health care bill to the floor. The title of the article is "Liberals Wave the White Flag". The gist of the comment is that since Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid has come out in favor of a public option, the House doesn't need to come up with quite so liberal an option itself. Here's the key paragraph, buried midway in the story:

But Democratic leaders, and some notable liberals, have made the case that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision this week to try to forge ahead with a package that includes a public option relieves pressure on the House to produce a more liberal provision for negotiating leverage. Pelosi set the stage for that argument at a Friday press conference, noting that “the atmosphere has changed.”