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| A vote on House health care legislation may face a delay |
| 2009-11-06 |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are adding changes to the final health care bill that will not be accessible online but may be aimed to appease rank-and-file. Dennis Miller on Pelosi: A vote on House health care legislation may face a delay as Democratic leaders admitted Friday they don't have the support of 218 Caucus members, but any changes in the legislation to appease wavering members could force Speaker Nancy Pelosi to break a pledge to post the final bill online for 72 hours before lawmakers vote. The House was expected to vote on the bill as early as Saturday, but Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Friday morning that the vote could slip to Sunday or early next week because Democratic leaders haven't secured the 218 votes needed for passage. Republicans are unanimously opposed to the sweeping legislation.. House Democratic leaders faced down a revolt from Hispanics in the Caucus who say they don't want a prohibition supported by the White House but not in the House bill that restricts illegal immigrants from buying insurance through a government-established exchange. A ban exists in the Senate version of health insurance reform. But Pelosi and others are also working furiously to finalize language to restrict federal funding of abortion demanded by pro-life Democrats. Democrats are looking to add the new provisions as part of the debate "rule." The House Rules Committee was meeting Friday to craft the parameters for debate and the head of the committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter, has indicated that none of the 104 amendments submitted will be added. The language to be added -- from Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind. -- would strengthen assurances that no taxpayer money is used to end pregnancies and make the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of such money, permanent, Slaughter said. If they do, it will mean the legislation is unlikely to be available for 72 hours ahead of the vote. Without the new language accessible online, Pelosi will have upended her pledge to the Weekly Standard in September that she was "absolutely" committed to posting the final House bill online. "Without question," she said at the time. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders had rejected a GOP attempt to mandate the online post, and Pelosi's spokesman told the conservative magazine this week that the pledge was to have a manager's amendment online for 72 hours. "And we will do that," Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly told the magazine in an e-mail. But Republicans say any change to the bill represents a broken vow. "Well, they will clearly have broken their promise to the American people" if the Ellsworth language is added, said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner. Earlier, Steel pushed Democrats to post any revised versions of the bill online. "If Speaker Pelosi intends to address critical issues like taxpayer funding for abortion in the rule, they should make it available for the American people to read for 72 hours," Steel said. "Transparency means putting the whole bill online for 72 hours," he added. In a statement released Friday, Pelosi, D-Calif., did thank Rep. Anthony Weiner for withholding his amendment for a single-payer approach to the legislation. "His decision not to offer a single payer amendment during consideration of H.R. 3962 is a correct one, and helps advance the passage of important health reforms by this Congress," she said. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #3 FYI, Ellsworth Amendment has been examined, analyzed, and deemed "3 card monte" shell game with the money -- per the National Right to life, the Catholic Bishops, and a pile of legal analysts, the Ellsworth Amendment is a sham. It also excludes conscience protections - which are noticeably absent in a massive bill that has things like fast-food labeling regulations in it, 111 new bureaucracy, and half a trillion dollars in new taxes. Pelosi is a psychotic bitch. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-11-06 22:23 |
| #2 They can delay it until h*ll freezes over. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-11-06 22:14 |
| #1 the Hispanic Caucus puts ethnicity (not a "race") above Citizenship. F*ck em |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-11-06 19:51 |