Do the Dems Have the Votes for Obamacare?
Most of the news, including FOX, are acting like it’s in the bag and we should all just give it up. I hope they know that even if this passes the fight has only began. If it passes, the Democrats will lose in November and we will fight to repeal it or have it ruled unconstitutional in courts. Of course, as long as Obama is in power he would veto anything repealing it, but if it’s kept on the front burner it will be an election issue in 2012 to repeal it. We will then win and have a mandate to get rid of it before it ever goes into effect. How is that for some optimism?
Anyway, it’s easy to feel fearful and negative right now. Stop biting your nails. I think the Democrats are bluffing to the end. I don’t think Nancy has the votes yet. I think she needs the Stupak crew and she still doesn’t have them.
So, they had the ace up their sleeve of using the Slaughter method to sneak and pass this bill. They have abandoned that now.
Top Democrats confirmed Saturday that the House would hold separate votes on the Senate healthcare bill and the reconciliation bill making fixes to it.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the chief deputy whips, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), all of whom said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) won’t use the tactic of deem and pass for healthcare reform.
The move effectively kills the “deem and pass” strategy Democrats had been eyeing to make changes to the Senate bill through a rule on the bill, which at the same time would have deemed the original Senate healthcare bill to have passed the House.The House appears set now to move toward an up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill, as well as a separate, up-or-down vote on the series of changes to that bill. There will still be a vote on the rule, as there always is for a piece of legislation, though it will not package the two bills together.
So, what does this mean? It either means she has the votes or enough heat was put on them about this crooked method they knew they were too exposed to still garner the votes through that method. The latter would be good news. The first one I don’t think they have yet.
The most likely explanation for the breakdown of talks between Rep. Bart Stupak and Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not that Pelosi decided she didn’t need Stupak and his crew in order to have enough votes to pass Obamacare. Rather, it is that Stupak — who is increasingly emerging as this drama’s Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart’s heroic character in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) — held firm in insisting on language that would truly prevent taxpayer-funded abortions, and in insisting that such language be passed by the Senate before the bill could become law.
In turn, Pelosi either decided that by accepting the language, she would lose more votes in the House than she would gain, or else knew that Democratic senators, with their strong preference for taxpayer-funded abortion, would never go along with this concession to the views of the vast majority of Americans.
In any event, by all accounts, Pelosi is now trying to pass the bill without the pro-life Democratic vote — or at least without Stupak. As of now, it doesn’t appear that she has the votes. I currently count 208 leaning in favor of Obamacare and 214 leaning against, with 9 undecided. Here they are — with the margin by which the presidential vote was won (by one party or the other) in their districts over the last three elections:
• Marion Berry (D., Ark.) (GOP +8) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Henry Cuellar (D., Tex.) (Dem +1) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Bill Foster (D., Ill.) (GOP +4)
• Jim Matheson (D., Utah) (GOP +30) — with nearly two-thirds of his constituents having supported GOP presidential candidates over the last three elections, a “yes” vote on Stupak, and an earlier “no” vote on Obamacare, a “yes” vote would mean that, for the rest of his days, he would be remembered as the guy who sold his vote for the price of Obama’s having just nominated his brother to a federal judgeship
• Michael Michaud (D., Me.) (Dem +7) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Solomon Ortiz (D., Tex.) (GOP +1) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) (GOP +21) — pro-Stupak Amendment — yes, that’s GOP +21
• Nick Rahall (D., W.V.) (GOP +6) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Zach Space (D., Ohio) (GOP +12) — pro-Stupak Amendment
Also, here is a partial list of some particularly key members who are leaning “no”:
• Christopher Carney (D., Pa.) (GOP +15) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Dan Lipinski (D., Ill.) (Dem +22) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Kathleen Dahlkemper (D., Pa.) (GOP +3) — pro-Stupak Amendment
• Glenn Nye (D., Va.) (GOP +9) — “no” last time
Meanwhile, the Dems have admitted they just make up the rules as they go. The American people are making sure Washington hears them loud and clear!
Update: Check out the liberal Firedog lake count:
The new count is 204 Yes, 205 No, with now 12 undecided and 10 assumed in the Stupak bloc.
Assuming there’s breakthrough with the Stupak block, here are the votes they say will decide health care:
Baird, Brian: D+0
Davis, Lincoln: R+14
Matheson, Jim: R+15
Nye, Glenn: R+6
Tanner, John: R+6
Foster, Bill: R+1
Kanjorski, Paul: D+4
Michaud, Mike: D+5
Ortiz, Solomon: R+2
Pomeroy, Earl: R+10
Space, Zack: R+7
Schrader, Kurt: D+1
Update!!!! A YES Vote just Turned NO!!
Update #1 (5:48 PM EST): Zack Space just came out as a “no.” The Firedoglake count has him at undecided, so by their count, we just hit 216 no votes for the very first time. Will it stick? Who knows, but getting over the threshold is important.
Email This
Posted by Jay on March 20, 2010 6:18 pm
» Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Article I section 8, Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Democrats, Domestic Enemies, Elections, Fascism, Fox News, Fraud/misrepresentation, Government corruption, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Government tyranny, Healthcare, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, House, Marxism, Nancy Pelosi, Nanny State, News, Political terrorism, President, Sedition, Senate, Social Engineering, Socialism, States Rights, Taxes, Totalitarianism, Treason, U.S. Constitution, Unconstitutional, liberalism, political bribes, political opportunism, political suicide, social parasites, transparency/accountability
Trackback URL:
Comments
4 Responses to “Do the Dems Have the Votes for Obamacare?”
-
-
-
Affiliations
The Giants
Advertise
-
-
Our Store
- Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
-
- More blogs about the ACLU
Syndicate Me
Space is only saying he’s a no for political cover. He’s our rep and has been hiding for a year now. He knows he’s toast in his district, so he was given cover to vote no. Believe me, it certainly isn’t his character that’s having him vote no. He’s Pelosi’s lap dog.
I’m afraid that Pelosi backing off means she has the votes. She cannot be embarrassed, you have to have a conscience.
Can the loyalty to the party overcome a man’s conscience? Apparently so, if the party starts with a D.
Did you see Alcee Hastings’ quote?
Here is the post and link.
http://truthandcommonsense.com/2010/03/20/alcee-hastings-sees-no-problem-in-breaking-the-law-he-shouldnt-as-a-judge-he-was-impeached-for-doing-the-same-thing/
Thank you for one of the very few balanced (and optimistic) essays I’ve read today. People screaming that passage of Obamacare is the end of our freedom and our nation aren’t encouraging people to stand up and fight; in fact, they may be doing quite the opposite. Many people are becoming overwhelmed at the constant barrage of stories, essays, etc., predicting our nation’s inevitable demise and feel as if fighting on will be futile when nothing could be further from the truth.
This battle against Obama, Pelosi, Reid and every other Democratic thug in this administration should, can, and will continue until every single last one of them is out of office for good. If our Founding Fathers had been as pessimistic as many of today’s political pundits, we probably would all still be singing “God Save the Queen” and dealing with the National Health Service.
Unpopular laws and even Constitutional amendments have been repealed in this nation and if it passes, we will do the same to Obamacare, no matter how long it takes. The Democrats, following the Alinsky playbook, want us to think their will is inevitable, but they’re wrong. This is but one of the conflicts we must fight and we must NEVER give up, even if it seems we have lost. Just because you lose ground in one battle sure as hell doesn’t mean you’ve lost the entire war.