ObamaCare - The Friday Edition
Posted by Tom Bevan | Email This | Permalink | Email Author
The White House's renewed push on health care has created one of the most fluid political situations we've seen in some time. Here's a quick - but by no means comprehensive - rundown on the political jockeying on health care:
Jon Ward reports that Dems are exploring a 'hold plus-reconciliation' strategy. Key quote: “We don't trust the Senate to do anything they say they're going to do,” Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, told The Daily Caller.
In Colorado, Democratic Reps. Betsy Markey and Diana DeGette are stuck in the health care quagmire, but for different reasons. DeGette is co-chair of the Pro Choice Caucus and is under heavy pressure to vote against the language in the Senate bill (exactly the opposite of Bart Stupak's objections). Markey, on the other hand, voted no the first time around and is being pressured to switch her vote:
Markey, who declined requests to be interviewed for this story, is a vulnerable Democrat who last year voted against a reform bill viewed skeptically by moderates and conservatives in her Republican-leaning district.
But that vote has cost her dearly with party loyalists back home, and she's now squeezed between the unpleasant prospect of alienating either her base Democratic voters or the independents she'll need in a tough 2010 fight.
"She is in a challenging district, I understand that," said Alan Phipps, a Fort Collins Democrat who volunteered for Markey's 2008 campaign. "But if I was her, I would rather be a one-term congressman and do the right thing than do the wrong thing and get elected."
In Texas, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports Chet Edwards is now a firm "no" vote: "If the question is whether I would vote for the comprehensive health care bill currently being considered, the answer is 'no,'" Edwards said in a statement to the Star-Telegram. "After listening to my constituents, I voted 'no' on the House bill last year, and I will vote 'no' on the Senate bill this year if it comes up for a vote."
In South Dakota, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin also reiterated her opposition to the bill yesterday: “I will not vote for the Senate bill as is,” she said. “I will not vote for a package of changes that would go through the reconciliation process.”
Lastly, on the Senate side, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who voted with the Democrats on Christmas Eve day to get the Senate version passed with 60 votes, says he's now undecided on the issue and is very wary about using budget reconciliation: "Most of the big social changes have been adopted with bipartisan votes," Lieberman said, adding that using reconciliation is not "the best way to do this for a lot of reasons."
--------------------------------------------
Follow the RCP Blog on Twitter.
Become a fan of RCP on Facebook.
--------------------------------------------

