On health reform, Rep. Bishop a yes, Rep. Barrow a no

By Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON -- The two undecided Georgia Democrats in Congress will split their votes on health care reform.

U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany said he will vote yes on Democrats' health care reform legislation when it comes to a final vote in the U.S. House, probably on Sunday afternoon. He joined several other previously undecided congressional Democrats who said Friday they plan to vote for the $940 billion health care reform package,  leading Democratic leaders to predict they will have enough votes to pass the legislation.

"We're one day closer to passing this legislation," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday.

Another Georgia Democrat who was previously on the fence, U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah, said Friday he will vote against his party.

“I am strongly in favor of reforming the health care system, but I don’t think this bill is going to do it, and therefore I can’t support it," Barrow said in a statement. "It puts too much of the burden of paying for it on working folks who are already being overcharged, and that’s not fair. It threatens to overwhelm Medicaid in Georgia, and that's not right. And it barely touches the insurance companies, and that's not smart."

As the only undecideds among Georgia Democrats, Bishop and Barrow were under heavy pressure from both sides in the health care reform debate. Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue personally wrote to both of them on Thursday urging them to vote no and predicting financial disaster for the state if the health reform bill passes. Other Democrats --  in Barrow's case, all the way up to President Barack Obama -- also lobbied the two hard to support the measure.

Bishop said he made his decision to vote for the health care reform package late Thursday, after reading the final language of the legislation and after reviewing Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation will save $138 billion in federal spending in its first decade.

He will vote yes knowing that it may cause him political pain during his re-election campaign this November -- but added that he thinks it is morally the right thing to do.

"Unfortunately, I think that my constituents are split right down the middle, so in a sense, I'm dammed if I do, damned if I don't," Bishop said in an interview.

"If I'm going to be dammed, I want to be damned on the side of the angels, on the side of what I think will be an obligation as a Christian to take care of the least of [us]  and to make sure people are treated fairly," he said.

Republican opponents are already targeting Bishop's 2nd Congressional District, which covers the southwest corner of the state, and will almost certainly make his health care reform vote a campaign issue. On the other side, Bishop faced a potential backlash from Democratic Party leaders and constituents if he voted against the bill.

Bishop said the deficit reduction predictions released Thursday by the Congressional Budget Office were key to helping him to make up his mind.

"That was very, very helpful in terms of sending the message that we are not saddling the debt on future generations by passing this legislation," he said. "Rather, we're [creating] a higher, better quality of life for future generations and for this generation."

Both Bishop and Barrow are voting the same way they did on a previous House health reform bill in November 2009.

All seven of Georgia's U.S. House Republicans plan to vote against the current health care reform bill -- as is every other Republican in Congress. Among Georgia's six congressional Democrats, only Barrow and U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon have said they plan to vote no.

Earlier this week, Marshall said he, too, fully knows the potential political ramifications of his vote.

But "this is too big of a deal for the country," said Marshall, who objects to the plan's high costs. "If I lose my seat over this, that's fine. I don't want to. But if I do, so be it."

Bishop said his decision was based on conscience, not politics.

"This vote for me is not about partisanship; it's not about supporting the president or the leadership; it's not about Democrats or Republicans," he said.

"This is about ... what will help the people of the 2nd Congressional District have a higher quality of life and affordable, accessible health care," he said. "That's what it's about for me."