After almost a year of debate over health care, it all comes down to today. The reform bill has been picking up steam in recent days and Democrats are now confident that they have the 216 votes needed to pass this historic legislation. But Republicans have promised to do what ever they they can to stop this bill. Even though House Democrats feel like they have the votes they need, there are still some Democrats that have not made up their minds.
According to CNN’s latest count, 33 of the 253 House Democrats plan to vote against the legislation. Thirty-eight Democratic “no” votes are needed to kill the bill.
One issue holding some Democrats back from a “yes” vote is the language on abortion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been working with Representative Bart Stupak and other anti-abortion Democrats to vote for the health care bill in exchange for an executive order from President Obama affirming no federal funding for abortion. That deal has not been finalized.
The legislation House members are considering is the Senate version of the bill. An additional bill that would make changes to the that, would have to be approved by the Senate. If they pass the Senate bill unchanged it will go straight to President Obama to be signed into law. Republicans are fuming over the Democrats’ decision to use a legislative maneuver called reconciliation, which will allow the accompanying compromise measures to clear the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes.
President Obama made a rare visit to the House yesterday to rally Democratic support. “Let’s get this done,” Obama said. Democratic leaders decided to abandon a controversial legislative tool that could have avoided a direct vote on the health care legislation. They will now hold an up-or-down vote on the $875 billion reform plan that the Senate has already passed.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the changes in the accompanying House bill would raise the total cost to $940 billion over 10 years while reducing the deficit by $138 billion — $20 billion more than the bill passed by the Senate.
The House will have three votes today. A vote on the terms of debate, a vote on compromise changes to the Senate Bill and a vote on the Senate bill itself.
The first vote in the House is taking place now. We will keep you updated here on UATVOnline.net.