The House of Representatives took a historic step on Saturday night, passing the Democrats' healthcare reform bill and bringing supporters closer to passing the first major overhaul of the U.S. health in almost half a decade. As the time allotted for the vote expired, cheers and applause broke out on the floor of the House.
In order to pass the bill, Democrats needed a majority, or 218 votes. They got 220 -- 219 Democrats, and a single Republican, Louisiana Rep. Joseph Cao. Voting against were 39 Democrats and 176 Republicans.
Earlier in the night, pro-life Democrats successfully added an amendment to the bill; the language, part of a deal breaking an impasse over abortion that threatened to torpedo the vote, imposes restrictions on coverage of abortion.
Update: The White House just sent out a statement from President Obama. It reads:
Tonight, in an historic vote, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality affordable options for those who don’t; and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare. And it is legislation that is fully paid for and will reduce our long-term federal deficit.
Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America. Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.
House Republicans have been remarkably unified this year, sticking together on all of the big votes and ensuring that Democrats don't have any bipartisan cover whatsoever. But when the House votes on the Democrats' healthcare reform bill Saturday night, things could be different.
Multiple outlets are reporting that both sides of the aisle are lobbying aggresively to win over Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La. Cao has reportedly told colleagues he's undecided, and the White House is getting involved in the fight for his vote as a result. According to ABC News, even White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has spoken with Cao.
Cao is in a unique position, because he's a first-term congressman who represents a heavily Democratic district. As a result, he'll have a hard time getting reelected as it is, and though the GOP base would undoubtedly rise up against him, Cao can use a little bipartisan credibility with the Democrats in his district. The only reason he was able to win election in the virst place is because he was running against Rep. William Jefferson, who was under indictment on federal corruption charges at the time of the vote; Jefferson has since been convicted on a majority of the counts against him.
Update: Whether due to Emanuel's infamous gift for arm-twisting, his district's blueness or something else, the Democrats won over Cao. He crossed the aisle to provide the bill with its 220th "aye."
If everything goes as House Democrats hope, they will pass their version of healthcare reform sometime around 9:30 p.m. EST Saturday night. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her allies reportedly believe they have the 218 votes needed for passage, but it took quite a bit of work, and at this hour both sides are still laboring to whip enough votes to push themselves over.
President Obama himself worked on Saturday to try and round up the last bits of support necessary to ensure the legislation would survive. He went to the House in order to speak to his fellow Democrats and encourage them to vote for the bill, and upon his return to the White House he made remarks that hit the same theme.
"I just came from the Hill where I talked to the members of Congress there, and I reminded them that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation. Most public servants pass through their entire careers without a chance to make as important a difference in the lives of their constituents and the life of this country," Obama said. "This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us -- even when it's hard; especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver. I urge members of Congress to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America."
Supporters of the bill already won a key test, a procedural vote to open debate, 242-192. 15 Democrats joined all of their Republican colleagues in voting no, but members often vote to allow debate and then ultimately oppose the bill in the final roll call. As of this post, Republicans are saying they have counted 35 Democrats as "no" votes - 41 would have to cross the aisle in order to defeat the bill.
There will be three votes before the one that really counts. The first will be on an amendment offered by pro-life Democrats that would severely restrict coverage of abortion offered by any providers that participate in an exchange created under the bill. The decision to allow that vote was a major concession to that wing of the party, a concession made Friday night in order to break a deadlock and ensure that the bill could come to the floor. The amendment is expected to pass, though it could go either way.
The second vote is on a Republican amendment, one that would substitute their own proposal for the entire Democratic bill. It will, given the large Democratic majority, go down to defeat. Similarly, the third vote -- a last chance for the GOP to kill the bill with something called a motion to recommit -- should fail, allowing Democrats to proceed to the big moment of the night, the final roll call.
Unfortunately, it seems that whether it's on the Internet or in real life, Godwin's Law always finds a way to prove itself again. People manage to use Nazi and Holocaust references in the most poorly considered of ways, as if they're unaware of the true horror that was the slaughter of millions of innocent people.
That sort of thing has been happening all too frequently during protests against Democratic healthcare reform plans, and one of the more shocking examples was on display at the protest on Capitol Hill Thursday: A banner that featured a picture of naked, emaciated bodies stacked in a pile, with text reading, "National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany -- 1945."
Now, someone with credibility on the issue that's all too real has spoken out against these comparisons. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author, put out a statement through his foundation's Twitter account. It reads simply, "Elie Wiesel on the GOP Tea Party's anti-Semitism and Holocaust comparisons: 'This kind of political hatred is indecent and disgusting.'"
(Hat-tip to Wonkette.)
It was only a matter of time before the right-wing media really sunk their teeth into the fact that the alleged Fort Hood shooter was a Muslim and jumped to what, in their minds, could be the only logical conclusion: It’s time to consider whether Muslims in the military should be subject to special screenings.
On "Fox and Friends" Friday morning, Brian Kilmeade cut right to the chase, asking Geraldo Rivera the following question:
Do you think it’s time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim army officers, civilians, of anybody enlisted, because if I’m gonna be deployed in a foxhole, if I’m gonna be sticking in an outpost, I gotta know that the guy next to me isn’t gonna kill me?
(Video, via Media Matters, is below.)
To his credit, Geraldo initially backed away, instead discussing the value and achievements of Muslims in the military. For a moment, it seemed like some modicum of reason had crept in. That feeling didn't last long. Gretchen Carlson immediately shot back with the following question:
Could it be that the military—because our society, let’s just face it, our society has become very politically correct—could it be that the military was also exercising political correctness, even though he had a poor performance report and even though he spoke openly about being a radical Muslim and had those supposed postings online, could it be that the military was exercising political correctness in not approaching him as seriously as they would have had he not been a Muslim?
At that point, Geraldo abandoned any brief flirtation with objectivity, and whole-heartedly agreed with the claim that the military was exercising undue political correctness. He then went on to scornfully describe the military as “basically civil servants in uniform” which, as a bureaucratic government agency, has (God forbid!) “human resources” and “procedures.”
He, more than anyone, should know.
House Democratic leaders had hoped to have a final vote on their version of healthcare reform legislation Saturday evening. Now it looks as if the vote could be pushed back a day or more, and for the simplest of reasons: They don't yet have the votes to pass it.
It takes 218 "ayes" to pass a bill in the House, and the Democratic caucus has 258 members. But they won't get any help from their Republican colleagues, and there's a pretty decent number of Democrats who aren't ready to vote for the bill.
The big stumbling blocks remaining are the issues of coverage for abortion and for illegal immigrants. One other potential obstacle was removed on Friday when Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-Ny.Y., agreed to drop an amendment he'd planned to offer that would have turned the bill into one that created a single-payer system. House progressives had demanded at least a vote on the amendment -- which wouldn't have passed anyway -- but they won't get it now.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is preemptively blaming any delay on Republican stalling tactics, but that's a stretch, at the very least. The GOP may employ some of those tactics when the House does prepare for the vote, but the thing holding it up right now is a lack of Democratic votes.
War Room is written and edited by Alex Koppelman, with contributions from Salon reporters around the country.
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