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Friday, November 6, 2009

Health Care Reform Vote May Be Delayed!!..Blue Dog Dems Skittish After GOP Wins

Do Conservative Dems (Blue Dogs) plan to vote NO! on the Health Care Reform bill?



Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, (D-Md) makes a final push for Health Care Reform.




Does Pelosi have enough votes? Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., joins msnbc’s Dylan Ratigan and a panel to examine the political arm-twisting going on just one day before the House votes on health care legislation.



Boehner: "PelosiCare" must be defeated. House Minority Leader John Boehner tells protesters outside the Capitol that "PelosiCare" poses the "greatest threat the freedom" he's seen since joining Congress.



Jon Voight on Pres. Obama's "Socialist America".







Hoyer: House vote may be pushed back


House Democrats acknowledged they don't yet have the votes to pass a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system, and signaled they may push back the vote until Sunday or early next week.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters in a conference call Friday that the make-or-break vote on President Barack Obama's top priority that had been set for Saturday could face delay.

The apparent problem: Democrats have yet to resolve intraparty disputes over abortion funding and illegal immigrants' access to health care.

Hoyer sought to pin the blame for any possible slippage on delaying tactics expected from Republicans, who unanimously oppose the health care remake. But he acknowledged that Democrats are still short of the 218 votes they need to pass the bill.

"There are many people who are still trying to get a comfort level that this is the right thing to do," said Hoyer. "We're very close."

While Hoyer said he still expects a vote Saturday evening, he said he has put lawmakers on notice they may be called to the House floor Sunday afternoon, or even Monday or Tuesday.

House passage of the 10-year, $1.2 trillion legislation that extends health coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and puts tough new restrictions on insurance companies would be a breakthrough for Obama's agenda.

The president was set to make a personal appeal to the Democratic rank and file in a visit Friday to Capitol Hill. That was called off after the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and rescheduled for Saturday.

Action on health legislation was slowed as senators waited for the Congressional Budget Office to weigh in on a bill written by Majority Leader Harry Reid in consultation with the White House and key committee chairmen. Senate votes could slip until next year, but in the House Democratic leaders pressed forward.

They expressed optimism that when it came time to vote, they'd have the majority needed to prevail in the 435-seat House.

Asked Thursday if she had the votes, Speaker Nancy Pelosi replied: "We will."

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were finalizing language to bar federal funding of abortion and resolving a flare-up over the treatment of illegal immigrants in the legislation that had Hispanic lawmakers up in arms.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus object to a provision in the Senate legislation — backed by the White House — that bars illegal immigrants from buying health insurance within a proposed new marketplace, or exchange, even if they use their own money to buy from private companies.

Illegal immigrants can buy private health insurance now, so some lawmakers say the White House position goes too far.

Democrats were trying to toughen prohibitions in the bill against federal funding for abortions in a way that would satisfy enough anti-abortion Democrats. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was involved in the talks and a resolution appeared within reach late Thursday.

The House effort picked up two major endorsements Thursday, from the powerful seniors' lobby AARP and the American Medical Association.



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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

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Posted by Laurel at 11:15 AM
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