Two senators, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Bob Bennett of Utah, are hoping that their bipartisan health-care bill will move to the fore once the current, sprawling Democratic legislation falls short. As NPR reported Friday, the Wyden-Bennett legislation focuses on measures to replace the current tax exclusion for employer-based health plans with tax credits to broaden and stabilize the individual health-insurance market:

Bennett says one reason he thinks the measure hasn’t caught on is that neither he nor Wyden is senior enough on the committees charged with writing the health overhaul bills.
“I’ve discovered that hell hath no fury like a committee chairman whose jurisdiction is being challenged,” Bennett said. “They weren’t interested in a couple of guys out in the hall.”
SNIP
Bennett hasn’t quite given up on the bill for this year: “We’re hoping that when everyone finishes throwing his or her hands up in horror, and saying, ‘What do we do now?’ the two guys standing out in the hall can say, ‘Look, will you let us in the room and let us get in the discussion and tell you what we’ve done?’”