Photo by Patrick Whittemore
Posted on 01/09/2010 11:58:20 PM PST by Blackyce
It looks like the fix is in on national health-care reform - and it all may unfold on Beacon Hill.
At a business forum in Boston Friday, interim Sen. Paul Kirk predicted that Congress would pass a health-care reform bill this month.
“We want to get this resolved before President Obama’s State of the Union address in early to mid-February,” Kirk told reporters at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
The longtime aide and confidant of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was handpicked by Gov. Deval Patrick after a controversial legal change to hold Kennedy’s seat, vowed to vote for the bill even if Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, who opposes the health-care reform legislation, prevails in a Jan. 19 special election.
“Absolutely,” Kirk said, when asked if he’d vote for the bill, even if Brown captures the seat. “It would be my responsibility as United States senator, representing the people and understanding Senator Kennedy’s agenda. . . . I think you’re asking me a hypothetical question but I’d be pleased to vote for the bill.”
Few have considered the Jan. 19 election as key to the fate of national health-care reform because both Kirk and front-runner state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee, have vowed to uphold Kennedy’s legacy and support health-care reform.
But if Brown wins, the entire national health-care reform debate may hinge on when he takes over as senator. Brown has vowed to be the crucial 41st vote in the Senate that would block the bill.
The U.S. Senate ultimately will schedule the swearing-in of Kirk’s successor, but not until the state certifies the election.
Friday, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is overseeing the election but did not respond to a call seeking comment, said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.
“Because it’s a federal election,” spokesman Brian McNiff said. “We’d have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in.”
Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 - well after the president’s address.
Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said Friday a victorious Brown would be left in limbo.
In contrast, Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was sworn in at the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 18, 2007, just two days after winning a special election to replace Martin Meehan. In that case, Tsongas made it to Capitol Hill in time to override a presidential veto of the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Friday, Brown, who has been closing the gap with Coakley in polls and fund raising, blasted the political double standard.
“This is a stunning admission by Paul Kirk and the Beacon Hill political machine,” said Brown in a statement. “Paul Kirk appears to be suggesting that he, Deval Patrick, and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid intend to stall the election certification until the health care bill is rammed through Congress, even if that means defying the will of the people of Massachusetts. As we’ve already seen from the backroom deals and kickbacks cut by the Democrats in Washington, they intend to do anything and everything to pass their controversial health care plan. But threatening to ignore the results of a free election and steal this Senate vote from the people of Massachusetts takes their schemes to a whole new level. Martha Coakley should immediately disavow this threat from one of her campaign’s leading supporters.”
A spokeswoman for Coakley’s campaign declined to comment Friday.
- frankq@bostonherald.com
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/healthcare/view.bg?articleid=1224249
That's a howler, Democrats showing concern for abseentee and military ballots.
They don’t have souls.
“Could they really be that shameless?”
______________________________________________
Yes - because they are all criminals. All of them.
I knew it! I questioned in an earlier post about the possibility of Pelosi&gang voting on a final bill before any possibility of Scott Brown being sworn in.
They won’t need to go that route. If he wins, they’ll pull the even sleazier trick of delaying him his seat until they do their dirty work on health care/cap&trade/immigration.
If I were Brown I would flood the airwaves concerning this revelation. Every Massachusetts voter needs to know that the Rat Party is already scheming behind closed doors on blocking the will of the people!
The fix is in, no matter what. If they seat the guy, they’ll change the rules for filibusters - you know, the unfair nuclear option when republicans were in power, and the ones that are just some old rules now that Democrats can benefit.
At least this way they’ll sustain some major political damage. People will froth at the mouth over this in MA.
It’s a state of libs, but they won’t like having their decisions thwarted.
Perhaps we should take from this the fact that libs hate this bill too.
They are “in your face” shameless - is there any question about it? They would stab their own grandmothers in the back if it was required to pass this POS. That is what they are like, and the sooner the GOP wakes up, the better. Playing Mr. Nice Bipartisan Guy is fruitless - these people are brutal maniacs.
Good News..This means they think Brown will win!. The Donks are in a total panic. They have all kine contingency plans to thwart the people. They are in a Pathetic state of incoherency. They are on the run. I predict this...The Health Plan is DEAD!...Stick it with a Fork.
Righto. But it will be up to the locals up there. Now if Brown wins this election...Everything changes. For the better. Have Faith. Even the Northeastern Liberals are understanding and becoming aware.
“They are “in your face” shameless - is there any question about it? They would stab their own grandmothers in the back if it was required to pass this POS. That is what they are like, and the sooner the GOP wakes up, the better. Playing Mr. Nice Bipartisan Guy is fruitless - these people are brutal maniacs.”
a.k.a., Communists
I would love to see him win but it’s looks pretty unlikely
I think the point is moot because Brown can’t win. They numbers are too close. ACORN, et al, will make sure Coakley wins. Then, magically, she will be sworn in within about 48 hours with no concern for military ballots, certification, etc..
Yes. They can. They're democrats.
I wouldn’t say that he can’t win just yet. The same arguments regarding ACORN theft in close elections was being made in NJ this past November. :^)
I completely agree if Coakley wins, even by the closest of margins, this certification “concern” BS will be quickly dropped by the Rats.
Massachusetts — home of the original Tea Party. Massachusetts — site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Massachusetts — cradle of Betsy Ross, Sam Adams, Paul Revere. Massachusetts — how far have you fallen to even suggest this?
The fix is INDEED ‘in’ to make sure that a potential GOP Senator Scott Brown is DENIED a vote on the 0bamaScam health bill.
I read crap like this and realize that the ‘Rats (and their RINO enablers) are no different than the Nazis of 1930’s Germany as they steamrollered any and all resistance to their totalitarian agenda, the laws be damned.
There is no end to the hopeful predictions that this 0bamunist regime will be stopped in it’s tracks this year and in 2012, as conservatives and wised-up Americans swarm to the polls to vote AGAINST the ‘Rats. I am first among those hoping and praying that it works.
However stories like this, which expose the corruption, arrogance and megalomania of the ‘Rats to hold on to political power by any means necessary, tells me that the chances of polling-power saving and restoring our Republic may yet end up taking a back seat to FIRE-power.
‘Rats, ACORN, SEIU and all of their affiliated scam groups have acquired lots of experience regarding the electoral process and have corrupted that process which is no longer 100 percent trustworthy.
Who says we don’t live in a Banana-Republic now?
“Could they really be that shameless?”
“Yes - because they are all criminals. All of them.”
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Many of their constituents are as well.....
Sound to me the people in taxachusettes need to get out into the streets like they did in 1776 and remember their heritage
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