Posted on 03/07/2010 5:20:16 PM PST by upchuck
Democrats do not have a firm grip on the votes needed to pass sweeping healthcare reform legislation in the House of Representatives, one House leader admitted on Sunday.
But the White House insisted that its reform efforts were “in the final chapter”.
Barack Obama has given Democrats a March 18 deadline for the House to pass the Senate version of a healthcare reform bill before he leaves on a trip to Asia, leading to a frenzy of arm-twisting and vote tallying on Capitol Hill.
With previous deadlines missed, veteran Democrats are warning that the legislation must be completed before the Easter recess to avoid a repeat of last summer’s “town hall” protests that almost sunk the healthcare bill.
“I believe it will pass. Do we have a mortal lock? No. Because people are still looking at some of the changes that are being made,” Chris Van Hollen, one of the Democratic leaders in the House, admitted on CNN on Sunday.
The House is shaping up to be a key battlefield in the healthcare fight, since Democrats lost their 60-seat super-majority in the Senate.
With not a single Republican supporting the reform effort, the only option for Democrats now is to have the House pass the Senate version of the bill, then for both chambers to pass a series of fixes to take into consideration the demands of House lawmakers.
But Democratic leaders in the House are struggling to get the 216 votes they need to pass the Senate bill. As many as 12 conservative Democrats who voted in favour of the House bill because it included tough new restrictions on abortion funding are now threatening to vote against the Senate version, which is less restrictive. The House bill passed by 220 to 215 so Democrats have few votes to spare.
“This is going to be a discussion and we are going to be engaged in that dialogue for some time until we get it done,” said Mr Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic congressional campaign committee and the fifth-ranking Democrat in the House.
Kathleen Sebelius, Mr Obama's health secretary, said on Sunday it was time for Congress to “get the job done”.
“The bill has passed the House, the bill has passed the Senate with a super-majority. We have comprehensive legislation for the first time,” Ms Sebelius told ABC on Sunday. “We are in the final chapter, mostly because the American people are desperate.”
Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate majority leader, underlined the urgency of getting healthcare passed before the Easter congressional recess in less than three weeks.
“There really is a life to these legislative projects and we’ve already extended beyond the normal life [of healthcare] given the array of other challenges and issues we have to face,” he told the Financial Times in its View From DC video series. “Right now Democrats are back on the offensive and I think they have got to seize it and do the most with it.”
Mr Daschle warned that failure to pass healthcare reform could lead to a repeat of the anti-reform campaigning that almost sunk the bill in the summer. “There is a lot of fear of the unknown and it’s pretty easy to generate fear,” he said. “Every time we do [try healthcare reform], the same predictions and the same dire consequences are announced.”
Mr Daschle underlined that it was important also to clear space after Easter for the Obama administration to tackle jobs, financial regulatory reform and legislation to address climate change. “We have got to perform – we have got to show that we can govern,” he said. “We’ve got to focus on jobs and do as much to recreate the kind of economy that would allow more job creation.”
If the bill doesn't get enough votes to pass the House, it's effectively dead. It won't go back to the Senate.
If it does pass the House, it could theoretically go back to the Senate for "reconciliation", but it will go to Obama for signing, first, if it passes the House.
Then, the question becomes; what motivation will Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have to make changes to it, once it's passed? It'll be the law of the land.
This is the lie of a promise that the three stooges are strong-arming House members with right now: "Oh, don't worry - we're going to get this right back to the Senate and make all those changes you want, but you gotta vote for it, first."
Would you buy that lie? No, you wouldn't, and neither are a lot of House members.
“This bill is healthcare-for-illegals and a taxpayer funded abortion bill. It has taxes, mandates and govt control over healthcare...”
I think that the Rats believe that if they can get this and then pass amnesty that they will have a 30 million strong voting bloc that will keep them in power forever.
Yes I do believe it but this statist bill is the kind of thing they've been dreaming about for years so in this sense they're all on the same side. But to be honest, I hadn't really considered your point until you made it. When it finally goes down in flames, G-d willing, it will be interesting to see the numbers.
Exactly. QED. I’m curious about the point I made concerning Levin. Is House Ways and Means where Pelosi will get the additional leverage to ‘persuade’ incalcitrant members? I guess I’m wondering where or how specifically she’s doing the arm twisting.
Especially since so many states are flat busted. Those guys are scared to go home anyway, much less with a freaking elephant when they can’t even afford to feed the cat.
Arm twisting will not work. Knee-capping will not work. Nothing will work. The bill bears the stain of Obama’s flop sweat. They all know that if they pass it, they may as well resign the day after.
Of course, I could be wrong. But if Pelosi says it’s a done deal, I’m asking why she needs to say it. If it was, she wouldn’t have to say a thing, now, would she?
I guess the promises that changes will be made to the final bill is one arm and the bribes each member can take back for paying for it at the state level is the other arm being twisted.
Pelosi is a low IQ, mouth breathing hippie from San Fransicko. She doesn't have the skills to wrangle a bunch of recalcitrant legislators together and get them to vote for something they're scared to death of.
She's basically fallen to simply asking the "no" voters to trust her, Obama, and Reid that they will make it all right after it passes. She's even made statements hinting that passing this legislation is so important, that they should all fall on their swords for it, if need be.
The only threat cards she has in her hand are withholding key committee assignments, or withdrawing party support for members' future congressional races.
I figure that a lot of Dems have read her hand, and aren't impressed. They know that they'll die at the polls, regardless, if they vote for this. Nanzi can't protect them from outraged voters.
With the mood of the country the way it is, and with the American people being so overwhelmingly against this unconstitutional power grab at our liberties, I'm sure some members of Congress are worried that they might not even be safe in their persons, should they vote this thing into law.
I know that would be one of my personal concerns, if I were in their shoes. Just how are they supposed to face the folks back home if they do this?
They all know that if they pass it, they may as well resign the day after.
Or pack their bags for Timbuktu. The country might well explode if this thing passes. All bets are off, if Obama gets his way with this.
At the very least, there will be lawsuits from all over the country challenging the constitutional legality of a nationalized health care law, and many states are already positioning themselves to buck the feds on this, should it pass.
If Obama wants a revolution, this is one sure-fire way to get it started.
I suppose, but those bribes had better be huge, and they'd better be in cash. Enough cash to be exiled for life somewhere outside the continental US.
The feds will have to start a "congress protection program" if they go through with this.
Oui.
Especially since health care confiscation is a jobs vaporizer on a nuke-ya-ler scale.
.
I sure hope you are right but most of the dems
are just as suicidal as the muzzies. It’s the
party above all. It’s been that way since FDR.
Next on their agenda is amnesty to insure zero
will be there for life.
I sure hope you are right but most of the dems
are just as suicidal as the muzzies. It’s the
party above all. It’s been that way since FDR.
Next on their agenda is amnesty to insure zero
will be there for life.
Pelosi is SCREWED CHENEY BIG TIME! She can not offer up any deals, bribes, pork, because the Senate bill has to pass exactly as is. They are caught in their own wicked little scheming.
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