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Washington (CNN) - The Senate's second-ranking Democrat said Sunday he was open to changing the government-run public health insurance option in the chamber's health care bill to ensure that the measure passes.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate assistant majority leader, said on the NBC program "Meet the Press" that the goal is to inject competition into the health insurance market in order to bring down costs and expand coverage to people unable to afford coverage now.

The public option is the most controversial provision in the $848 billion bill unanimously opposed by Republicans. Several conservative and moderate Democrats also have said they will oppose a final bill that includes the public option.

Asked about a possible compromise that would trigger a public option in the future if specific thresholds for coverage and costs go unmet, Durbin said there were "many variations on the theme."

"We are open because we want to pass the bill," Durbin said.
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Congress opens investigation into Fort Hood massacre .

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A key congressional committee opened its investigation Thursday into the November 5 Fort Hood shootings with a pledge to find out if authorities failed to "connect the dots" and could have prevented the attack.

The head of the committee promised the inquiry would not interfere with a separate investigation into the shootings being conducted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder.

"Their investigation looks backward and is punitive. Ours looks forward and is preventive," said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut,

Authorities say Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood Army Post, killing 13 people. Dozens of others were wounded.

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Protesters were arrested trying to occupy Sen. Lieberman's office Tuesdayon Capitol Hill.

Washington (CNN) - Police arrested six demonstrators Tuesday inside the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), after a group protesting his views on health-care legislation refused to leave.

Lieberman was not there at the time.

A group calling itself the "Mobilization for Health Care for All" littered the floor and hallway with symbolic "money," and said campaign donations to Lieberman by the insurance industry have affected his judgment of health-care legislation.

The group is upset that Lieberman refuses to support the "public option," that they believe would reduce the number of people without health-care insurance.

Lieberman later denied that his view has been affected by political support from the insurance industry. "I'm for health insurance reform," he told CNN, "I don't want however, as part of that to create another large, government-run insurance company. We can't afford it, we're already deeply in debt, the taxpayers can't afford it, our government can't afford it."
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(CNN) - Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday he intends to launch a Senate committee hearing on whether the Fort Hood shootings were a terrorist act and if the Army should have taken pre-emptive steps due to reported signs of Islamic extremism by the suspected gunman.

"I'm intending to begin a congressional investigation of my Homeland Security Committee into what were the motives of (Maj. Nidal Malik) Hasan in carrying out this mass murder," the Connecticut independent, who belongs to the Democratic caucus, said on "FOX News Sunday."

If Hasan was showing signs of being an Islamic extremist, the Army should have acted on that earlier and "he should have been gone," said Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Saying it was too early to know Hasan's exact motive, Lieberman declared that if reports of the alleged gunman's possible Islamic extremism are true, then "the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act."

"We don't know enough to say now," Lieberman said, noting what he called "strong warning signs" that Hasan had become an Islamic extremist.
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Washington (CNN) - Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that America would be better off with no health care bill instead of one that includes a government-run public health insurance option.

Speaking on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Lieberman said he would use whatever power he has to prevent passage of a health care bill with a public option.

However, the independent from Connecticut who sits with the Democratic caucus reaffirmed he will support starting Senate debate on a bill that includes a public option. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, says he will bring such a measure to the floor coming weeks.

Lieberman said that, if the bill still contains a public option when it comes time to close the debate, he would filibuster to prevent a final vote.

The Senate's Republican minority has promised a filibuster, and Lieberman would give the GOP enough votes to succeed in blocking the bill.

Lieberman says he will campaign for Republicans in 2010.

(CNN) - Days after drawing anger from liberal Democrats for opposing a public option to the Senate health care bill, Sen. Joe Lieberman is adding fuel to the fire, telling an interviewer it's likely he'll campaign for some Republicans in next year's midterm elections.

"I probably will support some Republican candidates for Congress or Senate in the election in 2010. I'm going to call them as I see them," Lieberman told ABC News in an interview published Friday.

Supporting Republicans is nothing new for Lieberman of course: the Democrat-turned-independent senator from Connecticut was a constant fixture on campaign trail on behalf of Republican John McCain's presidential bid.

He also supported Maine Sen. Susan Collins and New York Rep. Peter King last year over the Democratic Party candidates in those races.

Senate Democrats had threatened to revoke Lieberman's powerful Homeland Security Committee chairmanship after the 2008, election but ultimately decided to let him retain the post.

Lieberman, who lost a Democratic primary race in 2006 but ultimately won the general election as an independent candidate, also told ABC it is "an open question" whether he will again seek the Democratic nomination in 2012.

Sen. Lieberman said Tuesday that he opposes any kind of public health insurance option.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Joe Lieberman told reporters Tuesday that he will support Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a procedural motion in order to start the health care debate - but opposes any kind of public option, including state opt-out and trigger provisions, and will ultimately not vote to approve any health care bill that includes any version of a public option.

The announcement means that even if Reid is able to get a measure introducing a public option that allows states to opt out onto the Senate floor for debate, Lieberman - who caucuses with the Democrats - won't provide a crucial vote needed to get it off the floor and up for a final vote.

"I am strongly inclined, and I have had this conversation with Sen. Reid several times, to vote for the motion to proceed to take up the bill. Why? Because I want to vote for health care reform legislation, so I'd like the debate to begin," said the Connecticut senator. "But I've also made clear to Sen. Reid that if the bill remains as it is now, I will vote against cloture, to finish the bill and pass it affirmatively."

Lieberman said the inclusion of an opt-out provision would not change his position.

"To me, the opt out doesn't change the basic facts. The last thing we want to do now is create another Washington-run health insurance company," he said. "There's enough good things that we're talking about - health care delivery reforms, insurance market reforms, extending coverage to people who don't have it now. I think we're just asking for trouble that the taxpayers don't need. I think the end result of it - I mean we are having enough time sustaining Medicare."

The Democrat-turned-independent said he could not support the creation of a public option because "it still creates a whole new government created entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line."

"I can't see a way in which I can vote for cloture on any bill that contained a creation of a government-operated-and-run insurance company, it's just asking for trouble," he said. He also rejected the idea of a "trigger" option that would allow for the launch of a new public option if the insurance industry failed to meet certain coverage benchmarks. "I feel this way about a national government-run health insurance company whether it's a trigger or not," he said.

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Sen. Chris Dodd is facing a tough re-election bid in Connecticut.

(CNN) – Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in 2006 but won the November election anyway by forming a third party and siphoning votes from Republicans who didn’t want progressive Democratic candidate Ned Lamont to take his seat in Washington.

But once Lieberman had secured his re-election, he abandoned the Connecticut for Lieberman party – and now that party may be used to target the state’s other senator, Democrat Chris Dodd, who is already facing stiff competition from the Republicans for his 2010 re-election bid.

At issue is a battle over the leadership of the party and its 105 members between an anti-Lieberman (and Dodd) engineering professor and the pro-Lieberman founders of the party who say they have not abandoned it.

“There has been an unbroken chain in the control of the party by the people who are in support of Senator Lieberman,” said Stuart R. Korchin, chairman of Connecticut for Lieberman and the first person to register the party in 2006.

But Lieberman and his supporters failed to file what’s called “party rules” with the Connecticut secretary of state’s office, department spokesman Av Harris said, leaving the door open for someone else to do so. Fairfield University professor John Orman, who opposed Lieberman, was the first to file party rules, and soon after Lieberman’s suppporters followed suit.

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In a statement provided to CNN, Baldwin took a jab at Lieberman, calling the Democrat-turned-Independent a 'moderate Republican.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It seems that what could have been one of the greatest political face-offs of 2012 is not meant to be after all.

A day after Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman welcomed a possible 2012 challenge from actor Alec Baldwin, a representative for Baldwin tells CNN that "it's great to see the excitement" about the possibility of Baldwin seeking political office but the actor has no plans to run against Lieberman.

In a statement provided to CNN, the actor also took a stab at Lieberman, who has sometimes allied himself with Republicans, particularly on the Iraq war and Middle East policy.

"Part of me would hate to see Lieberman go," Baldwin said in the statement, because there are so few moderate Republicans left in the Senate today."

When asked about the possibility of facing Baldwin in 2012, Lieberman responded with a Dirty Harry-esqe "Make my day" on CNN's State of the Union Sunday.

Related: 'Make my day,' Lieberman says of Baldwin

"I respect Alec Baldwin as an actor and as a comedian," Lieberman also told CNN's John King, "if he wants to run, that's his right."

In a statement provided to CNN, Baldwin took a jab at Lieberman, calling the Democrat-turned-Independent a 'moderate Republican.'

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It seems that what could have been one of the greatest political face-offs of 2012 is not meant to be after all.

A day after Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman welcomed a possible 2012 challenge from actor Alec Baldwin, a representative for Baldwin tells CNN that "it's great to see the excitement" about the possibility of Baldwin seeking political office but the actor has no plans to run against Lieberman.

In a statement provided to CNN, the actor also took a stab at Lieberman, who has sometimes allied himself with Republicans, particularly on the Iraq war and Middle East policy.

"Part of me would hate to see Lieberman go," Baldwin said in the statement, because there are so few moderate Republicans left in the Senate today."

When asked about the possibility of facing Baldwin in 2012, Lieberman responded with a Dirty Harry-esqe "Make my day" on CNN's State of the Union Sunday.

Related: 'Make my day,' Lieberman says of Baldwin

"I respect Alec Baldwin as an actor and as a comedian," Lieberman also told CNN's John King, "if he wants to run, that's his right."

Asked Sunday on CNN's State of the Union about Baldwin’s recent comments that he might move to Connecticut and mount a challenge to Lieberman because, as Baldwin told Playboy magazine, “I have no use for [Lieberman],” the Independent senator responded, “You know, make my day.”

“I respect Alec Baldwin as an actor and as a comedian,” added Lieberman, “if he wants to run, that’s his right.”

Lieberman has a track record of surviving tough election battles. After his strong support of George W. Bush’s decision to wage war in Iraq made him a target of liberal bloggers and activists, Lieberman lost the Democratic Senate primary in his state in 2006. Undaunted, the longtime senator decided to run as an independent and managed to hold on to seat. He is not up for re-election again until 2012.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Six key senators – three Democrats, one independent and two moderate Republicans – sent a letter to Senate leaders calling for a slowdown in the push for a health care overhaul, in light of the Congressional Budget Office's assessment that the Democratic plan currently being considered would not cut medical costs

CNN Radio: Hear Ben Nelson on “44 with Ed Henry”

"We believe taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17 percent of our economy and every individual in the U.S.," read the letter, signed by Democrats Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Ron Wyden. independent Joe Lieberman and Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who also said they were "firmly committed to enactment of comprehensive reform this year."

The letter echoes concerns raised by many conservative Democrats on the House side.

Full text of the letter after the jump.

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The Senate passed a $91 billion spending bill that will fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through October.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –The Senate late Thursday easily passed a $91 billion spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After stripping it of funds to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and placing restrictions on the transfer of its detainees, the bill was adopted 86 to 3.

The Senate included an amendment to prevent the public release of photographs that reportedly document the mistreatment of post-Sept. 11 detainees in U.S. custody.

The language is aimed at preventing a court from ordering their release in response to a freedom of information lawsuit.

President Obama, who initially wanted the photos released, changed his mind earlier this month - saying the release of the images could endanger U.S. troops and civilians by inciting violence in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Joe Lieberman applauded Arlen Specter's move to the Democratic caucus, saying he was pleased to be joined by "yet another independent minded Democrat."

"I enthusiastically welcome my good friend Arlen Specter into the Democratic caucus. It will be very good to have the company of yet another independent minded Democrat in the caucus!" he said in a statement.

"I have always admired Arlen as a man of deep principle who has been a bridge builder to get things done in the Senate. Arlen understands that we get things accomplished when we listen to the vital center of American politics. I know that Arlen will continue to make a major contribution to the Senate and the nation as an effective independent leader and problem solver."

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama's decision to release four Bush-era memos regarding the use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" was heavily criticized Sunday as a couple of prominent senators told CNN's John King that the decision was a potentially dangerous mistake.

"I think it was a mistake to release the techniques that we're talking about and inform our enemy as to what may come their way," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said on "State of the Union."

Graham, who opposed the use of techniques that many consider to be torture, added that he still believed "there's a way to get good information in an aggressive manner to protect this nation without having to go into the Inquisition era."

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Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman will back Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd’s upcoming battle for re-election.

(CNN) – Connecticut’s senators are back on the same team: Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman will back Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd’s upcoming battle for re-election, three years after Dodd threw his weight behind Ned Lamont’s successful challenge to the former Democratic vice presidential candidate.

“They’ve been good friends for a long time, so it hurt him personally,” Lieberman spokesman Scott Overland said Thursday. “But their friendship has overcome it, and they’re as good of friends as they’ve ever been.”

When anti-war candidate Lamont challenged Lieberman in Connecticut’s Democratic primary 2006, Dodd backed the incumbent in the primary, but endorsed and actively campaigned for his friend’s opponent in the general election. Lieberman edged his Democratic challenger out in the final contest, and won as an Independent.

Lieberman’s support should be welcome news for Dodd, who seems headed for a tight race. The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows the possible Republican challenger, former Rep. Rob Simmons, getting 43 percent of the vote and Dodd with 42 percent.

Sen. Lieberman ardently backed Sen. McCain for president but he spoke favorably about President Obama Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Months after slamming then-presidential candidate Barack Obama's world view as "naive," Sen. Joe Lieberman reversed course in a critical foreign policy arena Thursday, praising the new administration's approach in Afghanistan.

The former Democratic vice presidential nominee from Connecticut told an audience at the Brookings Institution he is optimistic the United States can turn the tide in the former Taliban stronghold in part because "President Obama has made very clear that this is a war he intends to win and he has moved swiftly to take command of it."

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Lieberman may lose his committee chairmanship this week, as Senate Democrats meet on the issue.

(CNN) - Connecticut’s Democratic Party is officially complaining to Sen. Joe Lieberman for backing Republican John McCain in this year’s presidential race – but has decided against taking any tougher measures against him.

State party officials voted Wednesday night to send the senator a letter laying out their unhappiness with his decision, amid new polls that show the Democrat-turned-independent drawing record low approval ratings from constituents unhappy over his presidential pick and his continuing support for the Iraq war.

Lieberman himself, who remains a registered Democrat, retained his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last month following a lengthy and often-heated debate over what — if any — price he should pay for his vocal support of McCain's presidential bid.

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