As of now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still intent on pushing
though health care legislation at some time tonight. With all
Republicans expected to vote against it, Pelosi needs to make
sure she doesn't lose 41 Democratic votes, or else she won't get
the 218 votes needed to pass. According to the Politico,
at least
23 Democrats are firm no votes at the moment.
President Obama is scheduled to visit the Capitol today to make a
late push for Democratic votes, while House Republicans have
called for another "House Call" protest in front of the Capitol
today at 1 p.m.
The big news this morning is that there will be a floor vote
later today on anti-abortion Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak's
amendment to apply the Hyde language to the current health care
legislation, which would mean that the government plan could not
pay for abortion, and women could not use federal subsidies to
purchase health insurance policies that cover abortion.
Liberals have said that they could not vote for a bill if it
includes the amendment, because they argue it would go beyond the
language of the Hyde amendment since women would also be applying
some of their own money to purchase insurance through the
exchange.
“I forsee a return to the dark ages,” Alcee Hastings
warned, according to the Hill. “I’m 73, I’ve seen
these dark things, they use these coat hangers and die.”
And Planned Parenthood in a statement,
declared, "A vote for Rep. Stupak’s amendment is a vote to
weaken women’s access to comprehensive reproductive care and to
take away private benefits that women currently have."
Jan Schakowsky, on C-SPAN this morning, drew a distinction
between today's vote, which she called the "first step" and the
vote on the ultimate bill once it gets reconciled with whatever
comes out of the Senate. She said if the final bill includes the
Stupak amendment, she would vote against it.
