Even with Al Franken finally seated, Democrats will have trouble getting their agenda through the Senate. Case in point: Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman, who told the New Haven Independent that public health care couldn't and shouldn't pass.
"I'm skeptical of it, both in substance and in the politics," Lieberman said to the paper. "And by the politics I mean I think we're not going to get the votes to pass the overall bill if that becomes a condition of it."
On the substance, Lieberman said: "Part of my concern is ... that inevitably if we create a public option, the public is going to end up pay for it and that's a cost we can't take on."
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Lieberman has declined to back a public option in the past.
Independent Bernie Sanders has challenged Democrats to commit to opposing a filibuster on health care, even if they don't vote for the bill.
"I think the idea of going to conservative Republicans, who are essentially representing the insurance companies and the drug companies, and watering down this bill substantially, rather than demanding we get 60 votes to stop the filibuster, I think that is a very wrong political strategy," Sanders said.