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House Democrats see momentum on health bill
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gestures as she addresses her weekly news conference with Capitol Hill reporters, March 19, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives lobbied undecided members for support and voiced growing confidence on Friday they will win a close vote on final passage of a sweeping healthcare overhaul.
The House will vote on Sunday afternoon on President Barack Obama's top domestic legislative priority, which picked up fresh momentum by winning four new converts after receiving a good report card from congressional budget analysts.
"I feel very sure that we will vote sometime after 2 o'clock on Sunday and the bill will pass," Democratic Representative James Clyburn, the top House vote-counter, told reporters.
Top House Democrats pushed hard to nail down the last of the 216 votes needed to approve the overhaul, which would constitute the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system in the past four decades.
They picked up three new supporters when Representatives John Boccieri, Allen Boyd and Suzanne Kosmas announced they would switch from "no" votes last November to "yes" -- bringing to six the number of House Democrats to do so in the past three days.
"I'm very excited about the momentum that is developing around the bill," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. "When we bring the bill to the floor, we will have a significant victory for the American people."
Two powerful lobbying groups, the American Medical Association representing doctors and AARP representing the elderly, endorsed the overhaul. Both had backed earlier versions of the bill.
Clyburn said he and his lieutenants were trying to advise about two dozen publicly undecided Democrats on the benefits of the overhaul. He said they picked up a valuable tool when budget analysts gave the bill a good grade.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would reduce the deficit by $138 billion over 10 years and expand insurance coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.
"That was just great news for us," Clyburn said, adding he began to seek hard commitments from lawmakers on Thursday night and was trying to "get everybody to a comfortable place."
'NO ONE THING'
"There are five or six people who have concerns over here, six or 12 who have concerns over there -- there is no one thing," Clyburn said.
Among the remaining concerns for some Democrats were questions about disparities among states in payments for Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly. "We are working on that language," Pelosi told reporters.
A group of anti-abortion Democrats also threatened to vote against the bill because they want the restrictions on using federal funds to pay for abortion coverage to be stronger.
A business lobbyist pushing against the deal and tracking the votes said on condition of anonymity: "Our count is that they are still four short. But they are going to get there."
Obama will travel to the Capitol on Saturday afternoon for a final pep rally with House Democrats before the vote as he and Pelosi crank up their lobbying efforts.
The White House said Obama has talked to 64 members of Congress since Monday to seek their support while Pelosi has been targeting undecided Democrats.
"She's a predator out there looking" for undecideds, said Democratic Representative Steve Cohen, a supporter of the overhaul. "She's a drone. If she finds one, she's going to drop right on them."
With his legislative agenda at stake, Obama traveled to Washington's northern Virginia suburbs to continue his effort to win public support for the overhaul.
"We have waited long enough, and in just a few days a century-long struggle will culminate in a historic vote," Obama told a crowd at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Republicans, who have been unified in their opposition, said passing the healthcare reform bill would mean trouble for Democrats in the November congressional elections.
"The American people do not want any part of this and if anyone thinks the American people are going to forget this vote, just watch," House Republican leader John Boehner told reporters.
The overhaul would ban insurance practices like refusing coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions. It would require all Americans to have health insurance but give subsidies to help low- and middle-income workers pay for it.
Healthcare stocks, as measured by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index, were up 2.2 percent on Friday on bets the final bill will not hamper insurer profits as much as initially predicted.
In addition, Aetna Inc gained 3.6 percent to $34.46 after it forecast first-quarter earnings above consensus.
"That Aetna is giving that outlook ahead of the legislation is a positive sign" for the strength of the sector, said David Katz, chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors in New York.
A House panel on Saturday will set the debate rules and the process for passing the legislation. It is expected that if the Senate's version of the bill is approved by the House on Sunday, it would become law once signed by Obama.
A package of revisions designed to win over wavering House Democrats would move in a separate bill the Senate would take up next week. House Democrats have voiced skepticism about whether they can trust the Senate to pass the changes but Pelosi said they should not worry.
"When our members go to vote, they will have all the assurance they need that this bill will be taken up by the Senate and passed by the Senate," she said.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Thomas Ferraro, Steve Holland, Patricia Zengerle and Ryan Vlastelica; editing by David Alexander and Bill Trott)
Any Representative from NY who votes for this bill needs to understand its preemption of community rating and HNY will be for middle aged New Yorkers and the small businesses that employ us.
They need to understand that if they put party loyalty ahead of their constituents they and they alone will pay the price in November. All Obama’s threats and promises will not save their seats.
And, no many of us who supported Obama will not stay home. We will vote for the strongest opponent of each of them.
So Shame on you, Maloney, McCarthy, Bishop, Engels, Ackerman and especially you Weiner. Shame on you.
Something has to be done about health insurance but not this vote-buying, bloated bill – it is a shame and will hang over Congress’ heads until lawsuits disassemble it again. What a waste of money caused by Obama-Reid-Pelosi. An insane mission to “win” at all costs, very disheartening to be from the United States, tonight. In US we have the right to pursue happiness, not a guarantee of comfort. This bill undermines the paramount value of self-determination, not sucking off “The Forgotten Man” – the hard-working middle class one who gets taxed. This will change the fabric of US society even more toward entitlement – bad, bad, bad. Vote no on this bill and work it out over a number of years.
How I see it, we’re are going to pay either through higher premiums or this bill. At least we’ll have more people covered which is bottom line the right thing to do. We already spent much more on the Iraq war.
Americans are generally disgusted with both parties at this point. It is clear there is a problem. USA in the only major Western country WITHOUT universal health care. Both parties are trying to position themselves for re-election. Neither party is representing the best interests of the American people who elected them.
The underlying problem is that both Republicans and Democrat parties are beholden to special interests that have funded and WILL fund their re-election campaigns. As a result, both parties represent insurance companies interests. Neither party can afford to do what is best for the American people.
Americans want cheaper health care. USA pays almost DOUBLE what Canadians do for health care. The ONLY way to dramatically reduce costs is to remove the insurance companies from health care system. Doctors treat patients and the only thing insurance companies do is collect money for providing no service at all! The result would be a Medicare-for-All approach to health care!
A Medicare-for-All approach to health care would SAVE about $400 billion in administrative costs every year. Although that is significant, it is not the major cost savings. A Medicare-for-All approach would COLLECT premiums from young healthy people to offset the health costs that occur later in their life! (Currently, the insurance companies collect those premiums and the TAXPAYERS pay those the costs)!
politics at its worst..when in power, republicans started 2 wars and gave tax refunds..everyone’s happy happy..now dems in power..they want to do health care reform..reps dont want them to have it and neither give them the credit for it…reps need to stop the dems..uh oh..dems have the majority..now what ? lets scare the people..1) death panels..2) deficit 4) govt takeover 5) backroom deals 6)unconstitutional legislation..and the list goes on…now the dems dont wanna give up..and the fight goes on..
I’m more of a Democrat than I am Republican. However the Democrats will lose big time in the next election if they pass this. I know I’ll never vote Democrat again.
Its like everyone in our Government is corrupt. They use sleezy and shady maneuvers in an attempt to pass laws that go against our Constitution.
And no, forcing people to buy health insurance is NOT the same thing as forcing people to buy car insurance. They are totally different situations, plus not everyone has to buy car insurance if they don’t drive.
This whole thing is just plain WRONG in every way.
I’m still amazed at how many people, continue to support everything against their own interests. They are manipulated by slick ads, corporate lobbyists, and blatant lies. Then, duped, they attack a Bill that will help tens of millions of Americans.
Hopefully, the next measure to tackle, is education. Only then, will America get on the right track… when people can actually think for themselves, rather than just repeat the propaganda they’ve been fed.
To deal with the health care you must first deal with cost. To deal with cost you need to deal with tort reform and the cost of the overuse of medical testing and excessive use of resources because physicians are being sued. Also there needs to be penalties for those that abuse the system. Going to the ER 3x a week to score some Percocet is not an appropriate way to spend health dollars, and it is not costing that medicaid patient one red cent. Giving health care to the masses does not fix the core problem of the system of health care.
no on health care
what’s up
lying about cost
process to get through
opposition from right and left
let the people and truth be heard
do it fair and right
what’s the rush
