As Democrats try to finish hammering out their health care bill, the vote counting is already at a fever pitch in the U.S. House, as lawmakers and reporters alike try to figure out where things stand on health care reform legislation.
One of the best lists being updated daily is by "The Hill" newspaper which covers Capitol Hill. You can see their work at http://is.gd.ahudN .
As of Thursday night, The Hill had 26 Democrats in the "Firm No, Leaning No, Likely No" column. One liberal blog has 25 Democrats in the "No" column already, so they both seem to be on the same track..
The current Congressional breakdown is 253 Democrats and 178 Republicans.
That means if the number of Democrats voting 'no' reaches 38, then the health care vote would lose 216-215.
One interesting note being reported last night was that Democrats had given up on convincing Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) to accept abortion funding restrictions from the President.
If that's the case, then Stupak has vowed to vote against the bill, and that he would bring some votes with him. How many is under debate. It might not be the dozen that he has talked about - but even a few could be critical..
And remember, those anti-abortion votes were the key to the health care bill passing the first time in November.
This health reform vote is going to be very close, no matter which side wins.
As Democrats try to finish hammering out their health care bill, the vote counting is already at a fever pitch in the U.S. House, as lawmakers and reporters alike try to figure out where things stand on health care reform legislation. One of the best lists being updated daily is ...
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