Some House foes eye switch to 'yes' on health care

Associated Press Writer ^ | 3/01/10 | CHARLES BABINGTON

[Nonstatist]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ten House Democrats indicated in an Associated Press survey Monday they have not ruled out switching their "no" votes to "yes" on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, brightening the party's hopes in the face of unyielding Republican opposition.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is struggling to secure enough Democratic votes for approval, thus the effort to attract former foes.

Obama .. is expected to embrace a handful of Republican ideas for making health care more efficient.

But persuading lawmakers to change their votes is a tough sell. Elected officials are loath to vote two ways on a controversial issue, feeling such a switch draws more resentment than support overall. Democratic leaders stress that the legislative package soon to reach the House will be less expensive than the one that passed in November ...

In interviews with the AP, at least 10 of the 39 Democrats either declined to state their positions or said they were undecided about the revised legislation, making them likely targets for intense wooing by Pelosi and Obama. Three of them - Brian Baird of Washington, Bart Gordon of Tennessee and John Tanner of Tennessee - are not seeking re-election this fall.

The others are Rick Boucher of Virginia, Suzanne Kosmas of Florida, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Michael McMahon of New York, Walt Minnick of Idaho, Scott Murphy of New York and Glenn Nye of Virginia. Both parties have used the "reconciliation" strategy to pass big bills before, but Republicans call the health care push an unwarranted departure from standard practices.

Democratic leaders have asked colleagues not to use the term "reconciliation" but instead to refer to the process as "majority vote," said Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa. They also are frequently using the term "up or down vote."

[KoRn]

"Rick Boucher of Virginia"

He also voted for Cap & Tax. Voting for the healthcare debacle would make him a perfect 2/2 for disastrous legislation. Supporting those bills WOULD make any other lawmaker vulnerable, but most of the people of his district are so ill-informed, a majority probably have no idea who he is. If he goes through with voting in such a way, he'll probably win by 15 points, rather than his usual 20+ points. The RNC should throw some money into his district just to see what happens. Most folks around here positively loath 0bama, and Boucher has been with him from the start. If he can be linked to 0bama in the mind of the voters, it could very well cause his numbers to drop.

[AmishDude]

Being a congress person, relatively speaking, doesn’t pay all that well. I would not be surprised at all to find out that Pelosi is offering ‘buyout packages’ to representatives that will vote yes on the bill and get rich getting out.

I wouldn't count on it. No honor among thieves. An ousted Congressman isn't worth a dime to Obama and I can guarantee you that no matter what happens in 2010, Pelosi will not be the Democrat leader.

[savedbygrace]

These 10 are holding their hands up and saying, “Hey, Nancy, throw a bribe over here, babe.”

[fullchroma]

Whores.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

I think for a lot of them, they know they will have to find another job. They know that they are doomed no matter how they vote. In that case, they have to vote FOR it otherwise they will not be able to find government / lobbying work in 2011.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

“I’m actually suprised I haven’t heard anyone in Conservative Talk Radio speculate on such a thing.”

They’ve implied it but none of them have figured out why these guys might be “suicide voters” to paraphrase Rush.

[mwl8787]

Pelosi will pick up at least 5 of these 10 - including 2 of the 3 RAT retirees (Cooper and Baird).

However, she’s got a major headache of losing Stupak and 9 other pro-life RATS. Even with a sidecar, I don’t see how she can get any of these 10 to accept the Senate bill, even as a temporary measure - to do so would be a political death sentence for most of them.

[adorno]

The ObamaCare debacle is starting to look more and more like a Kamikaze mission for the ‘RATS.

I've been saying and posting about that for over a year.

This year has been the best chance the democrats have had to pass health care in congress and to have it voted through by a president. With a filibuster proof 60 votes in the senate and a large majority in the house, they couldn't get it done in 2009, and now that they've lost one senator, the democrats have become even more desperate to pass health care reform, no matter what the final contents of the bill. The contents of the bill won't matter since to them; if what passes into law is not entirely what they wanted, they can always get everything in there in the future, one step at a time. The U.S. didn't become so socialistic all at once; it happened gradually and health care is the major piece of the puzzle that will turn the country into full socialism. (Taking over the economy will be much easier with so much government control already in place after health-care.).

The desperation is what's driving Pelosi and Reid and Obama. This is still the best chance they have and if they can't get it done by summer and ahead of the election cycle, then it's good-bye to government health care, at least for many years.

Pelosi and Reid and Obama are not about to let their last chance slip away, even if it means losing the house and the senate. They believe that once the legislation is in the books that it will never be repealed or undone. Thus, they'll take their chances and hope that the people will put it behind them in a few years and they'll regain control of the house and senate.

We need to keep the pressure on congress and Obama not to do something which the people are so disgusted by.

Obama is desperate because without health-care, his legacy will be virtually zero and he'll be turned into a total lame duck in the remainder of his term.

[mwl8787]

That is certainly a factor but there is another factor working in the opposite direction for some. Their vote may depend on the degree to which they can survive if they are cut loose by the DCCC. If a Member can self-finance or has good financial resources for a tough race, they will vote NO and have better odds of surviving in November.

[rcrngroup]

Especially since Kent Conrad has said that any major changes from the Senate bill cannot be done by reconciliation.

I think the real danger (or one of the main dangers) is the Pelosi will ramrod the current version of the Senate bill through the House, under the guise of "fixing" the problems using reconciliation. At that point, the Senate bill will go to 0bozo who will sign it in a flash & declare victory. Then the reconciliation part will start, and if this is shut down or successfully stopped by Repubs, well, that will be good, but in the meantime the RATs & 0bozo the commie pig, still were able to pass the Senate version of the bill. I think the key is to keep the House reps (so called blue-dogs or "moderates") from acting on their real inclination which is their socialist agenda.

Socialist demoRAT bastards will always find a way to add to or amend a bill, even if they have to wait till the dust settles on this. And if it doesn't, well then they still got through some version of 0bozoDebacle Care.

[mwl8787]

The RATS are also trying to wear down the American public by not shutting up about it... Just beating us into submission so that the issue will go away.

We cannot let that happen.

I also would like to mount a campaign to inform the MSM handmaidens of BO that they will be among the first people in the nation to get dumped into a quasi-public plan. Their corporate leaders have to find some cash - witness the cutbacks at ABC, CNN and more.

[itsahoot]

Elected officials are loath to vote two ways on a controversial issue Unless they are paid enough, feeling such a switch draws more resentment than support overall.

[BobL]

I don’t see why the Republicans have such a problem with reconciliation, all it means is the following:

If the Republicans want to pass a major piece of legislation (such as Social Security reform), they need 60 votes in the Senate.

If the Democrats want to pass a major piece of legislation, they need 51 votes in the Senate.

Sounds fair to me...just what are the Republicans COMPLAINING about?

[Nonstatist]

At that point, the Senate bill will go to 0bozo who will sign it in a flash & declare victory. Then the reconciliation part will start, and if this is shut down or successfully stopped by Repubs, well, that will be good,... Socialist demoRAT bastards will always find a way to add to or amend a bill, even if they have to wait till the dust settles on this. ..

Even the House liberals who supported their version will not want to hung with a vote for the Senate Bill which will spank all those Union members with Cadillac plans, not to mention the Nebraska payout and the rest of the horsetrading crap.

If the House is stupid enough to vote for the Senate Bill, thats what they will end up with, period. Reconcilliation will be given up on, because the Republicans will bog it down to death. Its not appropriate for this kind of fix anyway, and everybody knows that. Liberals will have to face the voters having voted for a bill they cant stand. Not only anti abortion and good gov't blue dogs, but liberals also will be screwed. A real mess.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Whereas we lost the bid to call it the “nuclear option”.

[rcrngroup]

Not only anti abortion and good gov't blue dogs, but liberals also will be screwed. A real mess.

Yep, any demoRAT version of the healthdebacle bill that gets passed and that is what America will be stuck with...a real mess! Maybe that will be the candle that lights the fuse of freedom once again!

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

Then it depends on how self delusional they are. Most of them are going to lose no matter what they do but...... if there is even the smallest chance of escape, they might vote no. I think they would greatly prefer being house members to lobbyists.

Bird in the hand, two in the bush.

[Nonstatist]

Ironically, I think the only thing that saves us is that liberals in safe seats will not vote for a bill that they don’t like.