Do Pelosi and the Democrats Have the Health Care Votes? Here's the Math

Do Pelosi and the Democrats Have the Health Care Votes? Here's the Math

ABC's David Chalian reports: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have each spent some quality time with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in the last 36 hours. They probably have a pretty good idea of what he is going to announce Wednesday morning when he formally declares his voting intentions on health care reform at a 10:00 am press conference.

If he’s been persuaded to vote yes on health care reform this week, he will be the first previous no vote to publicly declare he is flipping to yes. If every sitting House Democrat who voted for the health care bill in November, voted for it again this weekend, Nancy Pelosi would have the 216 votes she needs to pass it.

However, because of resistance to the Senate bill overall and (for several anti-abortion rights Democrats) specifically its abortion language, Democrats know they will not be able to get all their previous YES votes to vote YES again.

So, the game becomes how many previous YES votes can Democratic leaders afford to lose? The answer to that question is another question, of course. How many previous NO votes can Democratic leaders definitively flip to YES?

Do Pelosi and the Democrats Have the Health Care Votes? Here's the Math


The REAL question is, will this tainted legislation get an up-or-down vote, or will Nasty Nancy slide it by on the "deemed" platter??

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 3/17/2010 by Doc Velocity]

If they had the votes they would have voted on it already. They don't. They're going to have to use whatever dirty tactics they can to 'deem' this as passed, which suits me just fine. I suspect that not only will their bill be found unconstitutional, but so will the process they use to 'pass' it. I hope they go for it. It'll likely destroy the progressive wing of the Democratic party if they do it and guarantee their minority status for a generation.

Yeah, I LOVE this obscure "DEEM" rule, which the Republicans and Democrats have used many times in the past on much less significant legislation. Slipping this out on the "deem" rule is like trying to shoplift the fekking TITANIC by stuffing it in your pants, okay? It's SLEAZY politics.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ed2e9792dfa3.gif[/atsimg]

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Doc Velocity


I suppose it shows how out of touch with reality that Pelosi is that she thinks using some obscure parliamentary maneuver is an acceptable means for passing the largest social program to be enacted since the 1960s.

Its not just sleazy, its dangerous. For all the dim-bulbs reading this who support such a maneuver...because the ends justify the means, in their minds...let me remind you that one day, your party and your ideology will be out of power. This has been used for minor things in the past by both sides, but do you really want this precedent to be set on a matter of such sweeping scale?

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.