The Ferocious Battle To Pass Health Care Reform

Health Care Whip Count Live Updates: Will Reform Bill Have The Votes?
The Huffington Post | Sam Stein First Posted: 03-19-10 10:30 AM | Updated: 03-20-10 12:33 AM

WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?

Important
Funny
Typical
Scary
Outrageous
Amazing
Innovative
Finally
Read More: Cbo Score, Cbo Score Health Care, Health Bill, Health Care, Health Care Bill, Health Care Bill Summary, Health Care Bill Update, Health Care Cbo, Health Care CBO Score, Health Care Reform, Health Care Reform Bill, Health Care Reform Cbo, Health Care Reform Updates, Health Care Updates, Heath Shuler Health Care Vote, House Bill, House Democrat, House Democrats, Joe Donnelly Health Care, New Cbo Scoring On Health Care, Obama Health Care, Obamacare, Projected Votes On Health Care, Undecided Health Care Votes, Vote Update, Whip Count, Whip Count Health Care, Who Will Vote For Healthcare, Politics News
136
555
views
20,538

Get Breaking News Alerts

Share Comments 20,537
Ahead of this weekend's vote on health care reform, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have been engaged in fierce behind-the-scenes lobbying of undecided lawmakers whose support will be crucial to final passage of the bill.

The magic number that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats are working toward is 216. On Thursday and Friday her prospects brightened as several fence-sitting lawmakers came out in favor of the bill. Still, there are holdouts and they will be the focus of the Democratic arm-twisting between now and Sunday's vote.

Check here for the Huffington Post's breaking updates of the health care whip count in Congress.

6:45 PM ET -- Momentum on Democrats' side for health care vote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is apparently optimistic about Sunday's vote.

"It's looking good," she said smiling to reporters on Capitol Hill.

Indeed, if all of the remaining undecided Democrats were to vote as they did when health care reform first passed the House in November, the final legislation would pass on Sunday with a handful of votes to spare.

"It's over," declared Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. The bill "will pass [the] House."

Story continues below

--RYAN GRIM & NICO PITNEY

6:30 PM ET -- Vicki Kennedy whipped Stephen Lynch to no avail. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) one of the few Democrats opposing the bill because it doesn't go far enough, said Friday that he got a call two or three days ago from Ted Kennedy's widow Vicki Kennedy.

"She said Ted had worked at this for quite some time and invoked his name," Lynch told reporters. He regretfully told her he would be opposing the bill, he said. Senate Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pushed Lynch again today on the House floor. Lynch said he told Hoyer not to waste time on him. He's a firm no.

Rep. Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts said that if Lynch says he's voting no, he's voting no. "He's a man of integrity," said Delahunt.

--RYAN GRIM

6:15 PM ET -- Two more for the "yes" column. Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rep. Scott Murphy (D-NY) will both vote for the bill.

"The vast majority of Americans believe that health care reform is needed. I agree, and after thoroughly reviewing the details of the proposal, I believe it will be far better than the status quo that allows skyrocketing costs to cripple families and small businesses and cause people to lose their care," Peters said, according to the Detroit News. The newspaper reported that Peters was "the last of Michigan's 15 House members to reveal how he'll vote" this weekend.

As for Murphy: "This bill is fundamentally different than the bill we voted on last November," Murphy said, "[it] is not perfect," but he added that he feels "much better" about it, according to the Albany Times Union.

6:00 PM ET -- Cao opens the door after closing it. Hours after he seemed to firmly close the door on supporting health care reform, the one Republican to back the legislation opened the door once more to ultimately voting "yes."

Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.), who said he was a "firm no" during an interview with CNN on Friday -- citing "insufficient" restrictions on abortion in the legislation being considered -- told the National Review later in the day that he "hopes to reconsider" his position

Cao's hope is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can guarantee -- "with certainty" -- that the abortion language will be altered in a separate piece of legislation. Though he also suggested that he is still determining whether he's comfortable with the current language as is.

All of which points to Cao likely crossing the aisle on Sunday provided that he is not the one determining vote. There is no reason for the GOP to demand that he vote "no" (and irk his largely Democratic constituents) if the bill is going to pass anyways. But if he is the difference between passage and failure, the pressure from his Republican colleagues will likely be too tremendous to dismiss.

--SAM STEIN

5:45 PM ET -- The Georgia twosome split their votes. Two Georgia Democratic congressmen are voting in opposite ways on health care reform, local news affiliates report. Neither vote changes the party's calculus in passing the legislation.

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia), who voted "yes" during the first go-round, will remain in that camp come Sunday, he announced on Friday.

"I'm in a situation where I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't," Bishop said. "And if I'm damned under those circumstances, I want to be damned on [the] side of angels and on the side of right."

Meanwhile, another Blue Dog Democrat, Rep. John Barrow, announced that he will vote "no" on the bill -- the same position he took during the first vote.

--SAM STEIN

5:30 PM ET -- Can you hear me now? White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just e-mailed reporters word that "since Monday, the President has held 64 meetings or phone calls with Members of Congress on health insurance reform."

Accompanying the email is a photo of Obama making a phone call from the presidential motorcade while on the way to George Mason University to deliver a speech on health care on Friday.


The imagery is persuasive: a president looking cool, calm, business-like as he works the phones. But it also raises the question: what exactly took Obama so long to start the personal diplomacy -- a charge that several lawmakers have leveled at the president. (Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) both claim to have never heard from the White House about their opposition to a public option for insurance coverage.)

--SAM STEIN

5:15 PM ET -- Florida Dem now a "yes." The Orlando Sentinel reports that Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) will support the bill. Kosmas was among the group of nearly 40 Democrats who voted against the health care bill last fall.

"I'm going to vote for health care reform," she told the Orlando newspaper. "I know this is not a perfect bill. But in the scheme of things, it provides the best options and the best opportunities for my constituents."

--MICHAEL FALCONE


5:10 PM ET -- Indiana Democrat gets behind the bill. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) will support health care reform, a spokesman for his office told the Huffington Post on Friday. The Indiana Democrat, despite having supported the bill when it was first considered by the House, was weighing opposition to the legislation because of disagreements with its abortion language. He had been a part of Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) noted Gang of 12 holdouts.

But after some party pressure -- and undoubtedly with his forthcoming Senate campaign weighing on his mind -- he decided to remain in the "yes" column.

Here is an excerpt from Ellsworth's statement:

"Like most Americans I was frustrated by this process throughout. Unfortunately many in both parties made snap judgments on whether or not they would support this bill based on politics, not policy. I was sent here to look at all sides of the argument in a thoughtful manner and I knew that the status quo was no longer acceptable. I needed to answer only one question when deciding whether to support this reform: will this bill benefit Hoosiers? Put simply, in my core I know it does."

"There is no issue more important or more personal to every single Hoosier than our health and well-being. My job is to look beyond all the political games, study the bill carefully, and do my best to make the right decision for Indiana."

"After months of meetings and conversations with thousands of Hoosiers, health care experts and pro-life advocates, I am confident supporting health care reform is the right decision for Hoosiers."

4:40 PM ET -- Obama meeting with Dems for last-minute arm-twisting. President Obama will travel to Capitol Hill on Saturday to met with House Democratic lawmakers prior to Sunday's vote.

The meeting, was supposed to have taken place at the White House but was moved to Capitol Hill to accommodate the large number of expected attendees. White House spokesman Reid Cherlin sent the following to reporters just minutes ago;

"Tomorrow's meeting with the House Democratic caucus will be held at 3:00pm in the Cannon Caucus Room."

The president held a similar pre-vote gathering with House Democrats when they first voted on health care legislation back in November.

--SAM STEIN

4:37 PM ET -- Ohio's Kilroy is on board Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), who voted for the health care bill last time but was on the fence approaching the second go-round, announced on Friday that she remains supportive of the bill.

"I will vote for the health insurance reform bill that will put our families and small businesses in charge of their health care choices," said the Ohio Democrat. "As many of my constituents know, I live with multiple sclerosis. I understand what millions of Americans with preexisting conditions face, including my constituent who suffers from Parkinson's disease and who was physically harassed by opponents of health insurance reform just this week in front of my office."

Kilroy, who hails from a swing district in Ohio said that the bill was "by no means perfect." But, she added, "it is a big step in the right direction and will save lives. I will not stop fighting for central Ohioans after this vote."

4:25 PM ET -- Pennsylvania Blue Dog isn't convinced. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Penn.) will oppose the final version of health care reform in the House, a Democratic source tells the Huffington Post. The congressman, a fiscally conservative Blue Dog, was concerned about the bill's cost and its language on abortion.

Altimre did not vote for the bill during the first go-round. So his "no" vote doesn't hurt the party as much as a defection. But the Pennsylvania Democrat had been courted heavily by party leadership, including the White House, for weeks as the vote approached. He was, apparently, unpersuaded.

--SAM STEIN

4:00 PM ET -- Another "yes" flip. Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) is a yes, after voting no the last time around, the Tallahassee Democrat is reporting. Boyd's flip is a big pick-up for Pelosi. More from the newspaper:

[Boyd] said he studied the revised bill and the Congressional Budget Office report on its costs and benefits. He said "it's not perfect" but that the package meets the four criteria he set forth in a series of 16 meetings across the 2nd Congressional District last summer.
Boyd's flip puts pressure on Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) to follow suit, as Boyd is the Blue Dog Dean of Florida, so to speak. However, if Boyd's vote gives Democrats the number they need, Kosmas could be given a pass. Boyd's seat is much safer than Kosmas, who is a top pick up opportunity for Republicans. She told reporters in the Capitol Friday afternoon that she will make a decision "shortly."

--RYAN GRIM

2:50 PM ET -- Perriello is a "yes." Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va) announced on CNN Friday afternoon that he would vote for the health care bill. More on his decision from the Lynchburg News and Advance on the conditions for his vote in favor of the bill.

2:20 PM ET -- Heath Shuler not budging. North Carolina Democrat Heath Shuler says he is a definite 'no' vote. "I have not waffled one instant. That's coming from people who would like me to waffle," he said, referring to rumors he was reconsidering his position.

--RYAN GRIM

2:18 PM ET: Ohio Democrat still not on board. House Democratic leadership and outside groups have not yet been able to convince Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio) to get on board health care reform, two Democratic sources working on health care tell the Huffington Post.

Space, who previously supported the legislation, announced back in January that he would oppose the Senate's version of reform. Since then, he has been the subject of an intense lobbying campaign, including a discussion with the president on Wednesday.

The arm-twisting, however, has not appeared to pay off. At least not yet, as the union source described the congressman as "being a problem still." Another Democratic official relayed that the White House was in continued conversation with the Ohio Democrat.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is expected to personally call Space about his position with other union leaders following suit. Local officials are also launching a heightened lobbying effort on Space as well.

Earlier in the day, two of Space's Ohio Democratic colleagues, Reps. Charlie Wilson and John Boccieri, announced that they will support the House's health care reform legislation.

--SAM STEIN

2:00 PM ET: Connecticut Dem adds his support. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) announced on CNN on Friday afternoon that he would vote in favor of the bill this weekend.

1:45 PM ET: Bobby Rush holding out. President Obama called Rep. Bobby Rush (R-Il) Friday morning to lobby him on health care, Rush told reporters. Rush told the president that a primary objection of his to supporting the bill was the removal of a provision that would extend outpatient discounts on medication to inpatient settings, which would benefit public hospitals.

"It just mysteriously disappeared," Rush said of the previously-agreed-to provision. He said he was told that Big Pharma objected to it.

Rush said he's switched his position from "leaning undecided to very undecided." (Obama assured Rush he was working to fix the language).

--RYAN GRIM

1:30 PM ET: Pro-life Democrat getting on board. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas said he was largely persuaded by arguments that the Senate bill does, in fact, prevent federal funds from paying for abortion.

"I'm almost there," he told reporters on Friday, saying he was swayed by a legal analysis by health care scholar -- and HuffPost blogger -- Timothy Jost. The fact that Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), Catholic hospitals and nuns backed it also helped convince him.

As a Blue Dog, he said, the CBO numbers were "very impressive."

He said the White House called him the day before yesterday, but he has yet to return the call.

"If I have to talk to him, I'll talk to him," he said. "Whether he's popular or not in my district I won't get into."

--RYAN GRIM

1:15 PM ET: Ohio Democrat leaning toward a "yes" vote? The Toledo Blade reports that Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) has indicated she may be thinking about supporting the health care bill.

"I am leaning toward voting for the bill if we can properly deal with the abortion issue and we are fast about that task," Kaptur, an anti-abortion Democrat who voted "yes" on the bill in November, told the Blade.

1:00 PM ET: Defazio may have company. Caucus Chair John Larson (D-Conn.) tells HuffPost that Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) and others -- along with Defazio -- objected to the stripping out of language related to Medicare disparities in the health care bill.

"Several members have expressed concerns," Larson said. We're continuing to meet on that and if we can't fix it because of parliamentary procedure, we believe that there are ways to fix it in other legislation."

Would they buck the party over this?

"I can't speak for them," Larson told HuffPost, "but I know they know how significant and important this historic moment is."

--RYAN GRIM


12:25 PM ET: Nevada Dem lends her support. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) released a statement on Friday saying that she would support the health care bill even though it "is not perfect."

"For nearly a year, I have talked with the people of District Three about the need for health care reform," Titus said in the statement. "I have heard horror stories from small business owners who had to lay off workers because of rising health care costs and families that could not get insurance because of a pre-existing condition. While the legislation the House will vote on this weekend is not perfect, it makes critical reforms that provide common sense rules of the road that will give families and small businesses more control over their health care -- not government bureaucrats or insurance company CEOs."

The HuffPost's Ryan Grim reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lobbied Titus hard on the House floor on Thursday, standing over her as the Nevada congresswoman stayed seated. Pelosi repeatedly put her hand on Titus's hand while making her case.

In her statement, Titus pledged to "continue to push for additional reforms" where the legislation -- in her view -- falls short.

UPDATE: A spokesman for Titus, Andrew Stoddard, tells HuffPost that Titus had wanted to speak at a caucus meeting prior to the vote during which she spoke to Pelosi, but the meeting ended while she was still waiting in line. The Speaker approached Titus on the floor, said Stoddard, not to pressure her to vote yes but to ask what she had wanted to say during the meeting. Titus raised questions about the education reform language that had been added to the bill and Pelosi assured her that her concerns would be taken under consideration.

"She wasn't responding to pressure from anyone in Washington," Stoddard said of her subsequent decision to vote yes.

--RYAN GRIM and MICHAEL FALCONE

11:55 AM ET: Obama's pitch -- special interests vs. the American public. In a rousing speech before a crowd at a northern Virginia university on Friday, President Obama sent a forceful message to wavering lawmakers.

"I don't know how passing health care will play politically, but i know its right," Obama said.

Then, addressing the cheering crowd at George Mason University, he asked for their help:

"If you believe that its right, then you've got to help me finish this fight," asking them to call lawmakers and apply some pressure of their own.

"We are going to get this done, we are going to make history, we are going to fix health care in America with your help," Obama said as he ended his remarks.

--MICHAEL FALCONE

11:30 AM ET: Pelosi weighs in on Defazio's objections. At her press briefing Friday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked about Rep. Peter Defazio's objections to the removal of the Medicare disparity fix from the final bill. "We're working on that language," said Pelosi. "I feel comfortable about where we are heading." She said she supports the language that was in the House bill and is working toward restoring it as much as possible.

"We have reached agreement before," she said of the dicey political issue. Defazio said his state receives the fifth lowest Medicare reimbursement rate - some $5,000 per recipient compared to Miami's $16,000.

--RYAN GRIM

11:20 AM ET: The White House's Take. White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said it was a "big day" just before President Obama began his remarks at George Mason University in Virginia where he traveled on Friday to make a final push for the health care bill.

11:05 AM ET: Unions cracking down on health care "no" votes. As the Huffington Post has reported, labor unions have been threatening tough consequences for Democratic lawmakers who do not get behind the health care bill, and here's proof: The PlumLine's Greg Sargent reports on Friday that the powerful Service Employees International Union has informed Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY) that it is "pulling support for him" over the congressman's refusal to support the bill.

SEIU spokesman Matt Nerzig told Sargent that Jerry Dennis, the president of SEIU local 200 in New York called Arcuri and "told him it'll be very difficult to support him come next election if he's not on this bill," Nerzig said. "The search for alternatives has already begun." In other words, Arcuri can expect that the union will be looking for a primary challenger to run against him.

Politico's Ben Smith reports that the Working Families Party in New York is already "actively recruiting" a candidate to run against Arcuri.

--MICHAEL FALCONE

10:45 AM ET: Liberal Dem angry, threatening 'no' vote. Rep. Peter Defazio (D-Ore.) tells HuffPost's Ryan Grim that he currently opposes the health care bill because House leaders removed a measure addressing the geographic imbalance of Medicare spending. Defazio is furious and claims he will oppose the health care bill unless the fix is put it back in (he said he's also angry about stripping the public option). A word of caution though: Defazio often makes noise like this before votes, so he's not a definite 'no' until his vote is cast -- but he was certainly animated.

"Unless they put that back in, I can't support it," Defazio said, referring to the medicare disparity fix. "This is under active discussion. They just decided yesterday morning they're stripping this out. The senate budget committee staff deliberated for 20 minutes and it was out and our leadership was going to accept that. But a number of us involved in the quality health care coalition said that's unacceptable and we're not going to support the bill unless you fix this."

When asked what if the fix violates the Byrd Rule, Defazio responded: "If you can't find language that works you can overrule the parliamentarian...he's just an employee."

--RYAN GRIM

10:25 AM ET: Prospects improving for Democrats. Three more Democratic lawmakers -- including to two undecided and one former "no" vote -- have announced, or are expected to announce, on Friday that they would support the latest version of health care reform in the House.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said on MSNBC that after changes to the legislation he was now "satisfied that [it] has moved a great deal towards the House bill in terms of compensating [New York] and doing the right thing for health care." (The New York Democrat had backed health care reform when it was first considered by the House back in November but had been coy about supporting it since then.)

Engel was never thought of as a serious threat for defection. But two other lawmakers whose votes were considered up for grabs are now expected to vote "yes" on reform. Rep. Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio), who supported the bill the first go around, will back it again when the vote comes -- as expected -- on Sunday.

"This bill is not perfect, but it is a strong step forward," Wilson said. "I have seen the CBO score and the reconciliation changes for myself. This bill will not add a dime to the deficit. I am confident that the Senate bill will be amended by the reconciliation language and that special deals for certain states, like Nebraska, have been taken out, that affordability for middle class families has been improved and that the harmful excise tax on high cost health plans has been adjusted. For these reasons and for the benefits that this bill will bring to my constituents, I will support the Senate bill with the announced reconciliation changes."

The big get for Democrats, however, is Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio). The freshman Democrat had been a member of a group of lawmakers who were threatening to abandon the bill over concerns with its language about abortion financing. Hailing from a district that was won by John McCain during the 2008 election, his seat is considered vulnerable in 2010. But the congressman, who was lobbied heavily on the floor by House leadership on Thursday, announced he was a "yes" vote, despite having opposed the bill the first time around.

"There are to many politicians who are worried about their future instead of the future of the families standing behind me," Boccieri said, with Ohio families draping him in front of the nation's Capitol. "A lot of people ware telling me this decisions could cost me my job... I want my mom to know I am standing up today and doing what I believe in."

--SAM STEIN