You're on a list of Democrats who have said they might vote no on health care reform, and the quote they have from you is not particularly solid. I’m curious what gets you to a yes.

[The] question is about cost. Is this credibly going to reduce skyrocketing premiums for middle-class families and small businesses, and is it going to reduce the federal deficit long-term? These are the essential things we promised with this bill. We’re spending too much on healthcare, particularly middle-class families and businesses, so are we there or not? Where are we on that cost-curve, on that deficit? Now, part of how you do that is by making sure you cover the uninsured, or that the uninsured are required to buy in the system instead of free-riding on the system. So covering the uninsured is a component of bringing premiums down for middle-class families. I think the first drafts didn’t meet that standard and the last drafts were much closer and we’re headed in the right direction on that.

How important is bipartisanship in getting the bill passed?

I have been disappointed by the Republican unwillingness to step up and be part of the solution. Not coming from a partisan background, it seems like when your country is in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s that’s the time when you don’t focus on the election in 2010, you focus on fixing the country. I think bipartisanship is a great thing, but the most important thing is getting the solutions right, and anyone’s who’s willing to be a meaningful part of solving these problems – have a seat at the table. The American people are going to judge us by whether we solve the problem, and they’re going to judge elected officials by whether they were part of that solution or not.

To bring up the specter of 1994, does the Democrats’ political fate depend on getting a good bill passed? How do you think this is going to affect 2010?

Before the internet and before talking into a TV recorder, the Right and the Center [could] coexist in a single coalition, but that’s a bit harder now because people are going to see how big the gap is between the center and right on these issues, and [we] have a full year to examine that. In terms of the comparison with the failure, we were almost all elected to do healthcare reform and I think people have a right to hold us to our word on that. And I think most of us also ran on some degree of fiscal responsibility and getting our budget under control. So if we find a way to do healthcare reform in a budget neutral or even deficit reducing way, then we are living up to the promises [we made] people

The most effective way to do the health care reform cheaply involves the politically-sensitive public option, which brings up something of a conflict between fiscal responsibility and limiting government intervention. Is that a hard choice for you?

I feel like you’re seeing a last gasp of the debate that has paralyzed politics since the 60s, which is, either you’re pro-market or pro-government. I think this generation asks the question, “What’s the problem and how can we solve it?” For us, the market and the power of profit motive is a good thing. For us, this is a pragmatic question, are we going to bring costs down? Not “is it a government take-over?” or are these corporations run amok? So I think you see more of a solutions-oriented person in politics in confrontation with the ideological divides of the 60s generation.

Are you looking forward to this fall?

This is literally a generation-defining moment for us. America has simply not had the urge politically, or the leaders with courage, for a generation to step up to these problems. [T]he next couple of months are going to test us – whether we make America different, whether there is some change, whether we can tackle the things that everyone else is too scared to tackle. That’s the difference – results, producing results. And we’re not there! We’re just not there yet. But, nevertheless, we’ll get there and we’re going to see whether we can do the work it takes to look back and say “Wow, this is the generation that stepped up to the challenge and didn’t drop the ball.”

Do you see yourself voting for health care reform?

I’m going to know a lot more in the next 36 hours, let’s face it, it’s going to determine what's on the table. I’m very curious to see what my colleagues come back [with after recess,] what their top line thinking is back from the break – are they scared out of their minds or have their fighting spirit? Can we actually turn our ideas to make a decent bill into a strong reform? I’ll know a lot more by the end of this week.