Latest whip count, including Kucinich
The following 2 pieces, 1 by a liberal and 1 by MSM, show the importance of contacting your representative. Did it Monday or Tuesday? Do it again today. Call, fax, Twitter, and email.
From David Dayen at FireDogLake.com, a liberal, you’ll recall:
Dennis Kucinich’s reversal and decision to support the health care bill changes the dynamic around the vote, but the ultimate question of whether or not the bill will pass was always going to be decided by the right flank of the caucus.
Adding in Kucinich’s support, and Ann Kirkpatrick’s, to the last whip count puts the number at 193 yes, 205 no, and 208-208 with leaners. That leaves Democrats needing 8 of the final 15 uncommitted votes to come through. The group includes 5 who voted no last time, and 10 who voted yes. So theoretically, if nobody flips to no, the Democrats have the votes. Here are the final 15…
Lincoln Davis, Jim Matheson, Harry Teague, Travis Childers, John Barrow, Zack Space, Chris Carney, Brad Ellsworth, Jerry Costello, Henry Cuellar, Nick Rahall, Solomon Ortiz, Earl Pomeroy, Bill Foster, Harry Mitchell.
That’s quite a conservative group, all on the right side of the caucus. I don’t think Kucinich’s announcement really sways any of them…. And as I’ve said repeatedly, it’s the Stupak bloc, or members from it who split off, who will ultimately be in the position to decide this thing….
As one House Democrat said this week, “We have no bill, we have no date, and we have no (CBO) score.” Until that gets resolved, there are still a lot of variables here. Kucinich’s announcement gives Democrats momentum, without question. But it’s not yet a done deal….It should be noted Kucinich is the 1st no to switch to a yes. All other switches have been from yes to no.
Also, my insider friend Dougy sent a “must read” this morning, a Politico piece conveying the extreme pressure being placed on House Democrats to vote for Obamacare, up to an including a tweet by DNC Vice Chair Donna Brazile encouraging primary contenders for no votes. Other takeaways…Rep. Chet Edwards, a TX Democrat who remains a firm “no”… noted of the Obama organization, “It’s clear to me they could care less about my political future.”
With the fate of Obama’s top legislative goal in the balance, the president and his Cabinet are doing everything in their power to help Speaker Nancy Pelosi lock down the 216 votes she needs to get health care out of the House – and very likely onto his desk. But it will take plenty of work by both to get there.
“When people come up to me, there is a decided anti-health-reform view,” [Jason] Altmire [D-PA] said, referring to the conversations he has with people at fairs, restaurants and church festivals in his Pittsburgh-area district. “The calls to my office have been pretty negative, and it’s gaining momentum every day. I’m giving everybody a chance to be heard, but if my district’s not on board with this, I’m not going to be able to vote for this.”
That doesn’t bode well for [the] White House – and speaker….
“I never stop whipping,” a beaming Pelosi told reporters Tuesday. “There’s no beginning, there’s no middle, and there’s no end…. We have a massive whip operation, and we’ll be ready.”
She later added, “I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
But her No. 2, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, said Democrats were still shy of getting the votes needed to pass reform. And another day passed without a Congressional Budget Office score or language on a reconciliation bill – raising the prospect that the vote might slip past the weekend and into next week.
That means folks like Altmire can expect to hear plenty from the speaker, the president and outside groups in the coming days. And for every person prodding lawmakers to vote yes, it’s easy to find someone else asking them to vote no.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
This worm! This guy has never done squat for us here in Ohio, and for once I thought he’d done the right thing. I just heard this morning that he’d changed his mind. I also know a lot of people who know him in the political arena. He’s a dirt bag!
I called again. My rep already intends to vote no, but it helps to keep their resolve when they know their constituents are behind them!
There is without a doubt a special place in hell for individuals who put their earthly goals ahead of what they know to be right. DK is certainly on his way.
The Senator is a traitor to the people. Wonder what was his bribe or threat.
King Obama is scary
The Senator is a traitor to the people. Wonder what was his bribe or threat.
I feel like we are living in a totalitarian government. King Obama is relentless.
We can overcome, however, and we will.
Kucinich is a cheap whore. A plane ride is all it took.
“And they’ll know, we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
I liked seeing the little guy called a “whore” – that’s good stuff.
EGV,
“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love..
There’s also the saying “if the shoe fits….
BTW, I’m an agnostic.
You are an agnostic? Crazy – well, good for you.
Then call him a whore all you want, you have no moral standards you need to live up to!
EGV,
I have moral standards, thank you. Kucinich apparently has no moral standards he needs to live up to. All it takes is a plane ride to get him to lift his skirt, just like a cheap whore.
Well, he is a politician. They all love their power and money.
Numbers are looking a bit better now…just need to find a couple more “whores” I guess.
Well I’m sure Nancy will find them. Hopefully it won’t cost the taxpayers another AF One flight.
If this bill passes then people like the woman in Ohio who got leukemia would get transported to a government exchange hospital where her treatment would be ten times worse and she will get less care then she would have gotten if Obamcare never passed. Herd the poor into clinics.
Ex-GOP,
When the care sucks under Obamacare and you decide you don’t want their care any longer do we have a “choice” about it? Aren’t we forcing people to pay the premiums to the health insurance companies. The US is supposed to stand for liberty. None here though; it’s pay the premium or go to jail. This thing, if it passes is going to have so many legal challenges to the way it is run it will be an attorneys paradise. Did anybody include attorney fees into their health care reform cost projections? I can see it costing most people more in attorney fees then they spend on insurance.
Hello heather from Ohio :)
Herd the poor into clinics.
Posted by: truthseeker at March 18, 2010 12:39 AM
You mean like Michelle Obama’s South Side Health Collaborative?
Ya, just like that Fed Up. I didn’t realize she did that…it’s almost surreal.
heather,
you should have thrown Obama out of Ohio when he was there yesterday and reminded him Acorn members are banned from your state. kucinik is gonna get creamed for this next November. He can always tell his constituents that he voted No for the bill before he voted Yes to it.
truth – you are NUTS. Hospitals and clinics will stay the same – the gal with leukemia simply won’t get dropped by an insurance company mid-treatment and end up getting evicted from her house.
I think you should be one of the first lawsuits – drop your insurance – if you are 400% above the poverty line, it is a fine if you don’t get insurance – so if you get fined, then sue. Let me know how life is without healthcare – it could be an interesting blog. I would read it.
Michelle Bachman was on Bill Bennett’s radio show this am and she said that she saw Nancy Pelosi with a paper in hand talking to house members. She learned it was about the Catholic nuns approval of Obamacare. She then said two members changed to yes votes because of that. Thanks, Sisters, for your commitment to life. (have they decided on the sarcasm symbol yet?)
EGV, 6:26am
No, instead she might get put on a treatment waiting list like the cancer stricken Canadian father of my aunt’s physical therapist. Thanks to his daughter’s medical connections he was brought to the US for treatment. Oh, and let’s not forget the British women who sued for access to a breast cancer treatment drug the British gov’t determined was too expensive. The American cancer patient I told this account to was appalled since she credits the drug with saving her life.
Gov’t run health care, or public option, means limited funds and bureaucrats who make insurance agents look like pushovers. Whether you want to call it gov’t run, public option or what look at the situations in Canada and Great Britain to see our future.
Hi Dee,
Before you believe anything Pelosi spews keep in mind the woman is proof that botox causes brain damage.
I’d be willing to bet my mortgage these two reps were looking for a convenient excuse to cave in to Pelosi and change their votes. Keep in mind our “representatives” in the senate and house have time and again given the American people the finger, acting more like loyal lapdogs to Pelosi and the president who hides behind her skirts than concerning themselves with truly representing their constituents. I don’t believe for a minute the two nuns would so radically influence these whores.
Hospitals and clinics will stay the same
That’s a pretty bold claim, EGV, given the proposed reimbursement changes for hospitals and physicians. Outpatient clinics will of necessity have to adapt to care for higher acuity illnesses. And hospitals will have to reconsider admission criteria or risk financial penalty.
Also, how can you claim that the leukemia patient’s care wouldn’t be disrupted under Obamacare? The fact is you don’t know. Neither do I.
What we do know is that the Dems in the House voted to ration care for high risk pool patients under certain financial conditions. And we know they defeated all anti-rationing amendments that were proposed. So we know that the Dems are willing to ration. We don’t know if they will. We only know the party willing to ration will be appointing the bureaucrats who will draft the regulations of the various programs that will oversee the leukemia patient’s care and coverage. And we know they will likewise be appointing those program administrators.
Isn’t it fair to say that Obamacare puts her at risk of disruption in care unless anti-rationing amendments, which to date have failed, are adopted?
As a nurse for over 30 years, I’m concerned Jill Stanek (and other pro-lifers) are missing the point. While I respect their view, I also contend hundreds to thousands of people will die and have died because they do not have health insurance. Are these lives any less important than the ones you want to protect and save? Support health care which does not do anything to the current legislation intact pertaining to abortions. Do not use this bill to further your own “special interest” agenda. Life is life, isn’t it?
Peg-a-leg,
I have you beat at 40 years and I’m telling you I have never seen anyone turned away or denied care because of inability to pay. In the ER we didn’t even determine if someone could pay or how before treating them.
I have no clue who these “hundreds of thousands” are that you are referring to. Keep in mind there are people who take no responsibility to insure themselves or for maintaining their own health.
Check out Drudge and see how Hawaii earthquake victims were helped by the Lousiana bribe, uh purchase.
I know, there was no earthquake in Hawaii but why get technical? Who says teleprompters don’t have a great sense of humor?
I think you should be one of the first lawsuits – drop your insurance – if you are 400% above the poverty line, it is a fine if you don’t get insurance – so if you get fined, then sue. Let me know how life is without healthcare – it could be an interesting blog. I would read it.
Posted by: Ex-GOP Voter at March 18, 2010 6:26 AM
I won’t be alone. 37 states so far have proposed laws that offer to represent people like me who sue. My state included. But you avoided the point of my post. For most Americans this will have “hidden” costs that do not get included in the CBO estimates. Thousands of dollars per citizen in bureaucracy (not to mention taxes) and attorney fees.
I heard Obamacare will require 17000 new IRS employees to track private citizens who don’t pay into Obamacare. Grow givernment, that is Obama’s laser like focus on jobs. Ugh
Hi TS. Somebody’s gotta keep your employer informed about your family income. The doctor’s office isn’t the only place you’re losing your privacy.
fed-up, collecting DNA samples on everybody will be coming soon too.
ts, 3:57am
……right along with rectal exams.
The IRS represent gov’t control and intimidation.
Something like the secret police we hear about in dictatorships but that we would NEVER see here in the U.S.
I’m beginning to think we don’t need reform.
I think the 24% of people under 65 in California who aren’t insured are just whining. And the 1.8 million extra uninsured in that state from 2007 to 2009 are just extra opportunity for the rest of us to show charity.
And I think those in California that got the 39% insurance premium hike should be thankful – it is an opportunity to practice Biblical fasting as a family. Or maybe a chance to see which cereals taste best with water on it instead of milk.
What’s Ex-GOP proposing as a solution for California’s woes? More socialism?
Ex-GOP, if you want to show love to your neighbour, good for you. I will certainly applaud your good example of personal concern demonstrated by deeds and dollars and not just words. However, conservatives (people on the right) generally give more than liberals (people on the left). And they give more even as they also raise more children than do liberals for the future of their country.
I do not applaud socialism. It is not a good example to recommend stealing from the ants in order to give to the grasshoppers (and the stealers). Stealing is wrong.
And as you know, I’m all for health care reform. Getting the government out of health care and phasing out Medicare seems next to impossible, but don’t say I’m not in favour of it. Paul Ryan, for example, has some very practical and realistic suggestions.
Jon – I’ve turned over a new leaf – I’m right there with you man. Let’s just eliminate all insurance all together. And let’s not stop there. Anything that smells at all of socialism needs to be eliminated:
– Fire departments
– Parts of the book of Acts
– Medicaid, the entire progressive tax code (Reagan was a damn Socialist), roads, hospitals, schools
In fact, let’s just go back to Biblical living (except for the parts about socialism)
Okay, so let’s go back to caveman living.
By the way, what specific parts of Ryan’s plan do you like?
Actually x-GOP voter…John Stossel made a very convincing argument how we SHOULD do away with insurance. It would actually make healthcare affordable for ALL. I was skeptical too, but what he said made sense. He broke down the cost of insurance, the dollars lost to the middle man so to speak….
He even addressed how it would affect people who find themselves with cancer or were in some catastrophe and have huge medical bills…in the end they would have had to pay less without all the insurance hoopla. And hospitals and doctors would lower prices and raise level of care to compete.
I know that is going to sound completely idiotic to you and it did to me at first too, but like I said, John Stossel broke it down and it did make a lot of sense.
Sydney – actually it would make a lot of sense in that, each test/procedures carries a dollar value so people won’t get extra stuff because they think it is “free”. Furthermore, people wouldn’t rush for non-emergencies.
Now, the one thing that I think would suffer is preventable care, so instead of catching somebody at the beginning of an illness, we’ll just catch it when it is something worse.
I do hope that we (continue, as I’ve seen this happening) move more towards quick clinics – clinics at works and Wal Marts and such to start getting the little things, and preventative care, before they become big things.
My frustration is that at the current pace of healthcare, we’re in deep doo-doo. I don’t quite know if this bill reforms things enough, but it is a start – and it is frustrating that a few issues could derail something that low and middle income folks need help with. It is like the GOP social security reform (which I agree with) – at some point, we’re either going to have to proactively fix it, or wait until it is broken beyond repair – which will really affect people.
Ex-GOP, slow down, man! I’m glad for your death-bed conversion, but don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. I never spoke of eliminating all insurance. In fact, I never even spoke of eliminating health insurance. I did say that I would be in favour of phasing out Medicare, not just out of idealism but also because of realism.
I never spoke of doing away with fire departments. Also, it’s my impression that they are controlled by the municipal government, which is by its nature more local (decentralized).
You speak of doing away with the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit! Why? Where does it advocate socialism? Paul in his letter to the Romans (chapter 13) indicates that the purpose of the civil government is to punish evil-doers, i.e. exercise justice and keep order. Now the civil government may do well to enact some laws to regulate health care, but a government take-over is quite another thing. And, as you should know, hospitals and universities were once controlled by the Church, not the state.
You advocate going back to “caveman living.” I don’t believe that Adam and Eve were cavemen. God put them in a garden, and after He expelled them from it, their immediate descendants immediately began to develop art, technology, politics, and the other characteristics of civilization (Gen. 4:16-26).
I don’t know Paul Ryan’s plan very well. I only read a long article on it (several articles, but one in particular that I remember reading). However, I liked what I read. Maybe I’ll include an excerpt in my next comment.
Come on Jon – you equate Socialistic behavior with the devil himself. I pay taxes that go towards the fire department, and they only bail out people who need it. Socialism fair and simple.
Reagan’s tax rate had rich people paying more than poor people. Stinkin’ socialist.
And look at ACTS – people sold their possessions and brought the money to the group and distributed to those who needed it. Pull out the sharpie!
Hey, don’t worry about it – insurance might just go away by itself anyways – have you seen the percentage of employers that cover insurance over the year? Quite the quick and steady decline.
excerpt from Shawn Tully’s “Obama’s New Adversary” CNN Money article of March 4:
Despite some bipartisan support, Ryan’s ideas are a hard sell, politically speaking. The idea of indexing Social Security to inflation caused an angry backlash under President George W. Bush. On both Medicare and his health-care tax credit, Ryan would restrain expenditures by raising benefits for high earners and most of the middle class at a pace slower than the rate of medical inflation. As a result, Americans would be forced to spend more and more of their own dollars on insurance. Even though Ryan promises to leave today’s Medicare benefits in place for people 55 and older, his proposal is bound to raise the ire of the lobbies for senior citizens.
Ryan’s proposals contradict the Obama administration’s philosophy, which calls for the government to take on more responsibility for citizens’ well-being. Budget director Orszag conceded that Ryan “succeeds in addressing our long-term fiscal problem,” but takes “a dramatically different approach in which more risk is unloaded onto individuals.”
Ex-GOP at 1:30 p.m., you continue to misrepresent me. I don’t think that I have ever spoken out against insurance. Why do you continue to imply that I do?
And, again, the sharing of possessions in the book of Acts has nothing to do with socialism. You’re not using your brain, Ex-GOP! For one thing, the giving was voluntary, not coerced. I’m in favour of voluntary giving (see my comment at 12:10 p.m.). Secondly, the proceeds were given to the church, not the state.
Socialism is a milder form of communism. My 1964 Concise Oxford Dictionary defines socialism as “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates State ownership and control of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.”
There are some works in the interest of the general welfare (order) that I favour, e.g. a fire department. Ownership of my body is not one of them.
excerpt from Mark Steyn’s “Dark Dawn of Deemocracy” Orange County Register article of March 19:
California is bankrupt: The dependent class and the government class that issues the checks to the dependent class have squeezed out the poor boobs in the middle who have to pay for it all. Everybody knows this. But a state that already has a Bureau of Home Furnishings cannot restrain itself from setting up a Bureau of Motion Picture Condom Regulation – or, anyway, an impact study to study whether the Bureau of Impact Studies should study the impact of a Bureau of Motion Picture Condom Regulation.
Look around you, and take it all in. From now on, it gets worse. If you have kids, they’ll live in smaller homes, drive smaller cars, live smaller lives. If you don’t have kids, you better hope your neighbors do, because someone needs to spawn a working population large enough to pay for the unsustainable entitlements the Obama party has suckered you into thinking you’re entitled to. The unfunded liabilities of current entitlements are $100 trillion. Try typing that onto your pocket calculator. You can’t. There isn’t enough room for all the zeroes, and, even if they made a pocket calculator large enough, and a pocket large enough, you’d be walking with a limp. To these existing entitlements, Obama and his enforcers in Congress propose to add the grandest of all: health care, on a scale no advanced democracy has ever attempted.
Jon, this video on Ryan’s Medicare reform plan might interest you.