Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) gave a speech (video here) on the Senate floor this afternoon calling for Medicare reform, hitting all your favorite Utne Reader speaking points about scrapping "fee for service" and tying costs to outcomes instead. (Earlier this month, Cantwell also hit all The Nation magazine speaking points, calling for a public option.)

However, Sen. Cantwell left out her Socialist Worker speaking points*, which her office had pitched me earlier this summer:

Cantwell wants to impose a 1.45 percent tax on short-term capital gains to help fund Medicare, and she’s asked the Senate Joint Committee on Taxation to look at the budgeting details of her populist tax idea.Currently, short-term capital gains—which includes profits made on day trades and short-sales by hedge funds—aren’t subject to Medicare taxes like a workers’ income is.

Cantwell’s office tells PubliCola: "This is … about fairness. People who live on profits they make in day trades don’t contribute into the Medicare trust fund in the same way as a worker who earns wages."

I asked Cantwell's office why that rap wasn't part of her speech today and if the senator had gotten any numbers back from the committee yet. Cantwell's spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton said simply: "She's still interested in that proposal, but she's also focusing on cost containment first and foremost before looking for any new revenues."

* Just kidding about the Socialist Worker!