House passes healthcare reform 220-215
Late last night the House of Representatives passed the healthcare reform bill by a 220-215 vote with 39 Democrats voting against it and one Republican voting in favor.
The bill basically remained intact, the healthcare mandates (with possible jail time for those who don’t buy coverage) and public option are still in there so I guess at this point we can only look toward small victories.
Small victories is probably the wrong term to use when talking about abortion, but I am talking about one aspect of the bill in relation to the entirety of the bill.
Bark Stupak, who had amassed a coalition of 40 pro-life Democrats and threatened to kill the bill if his amendment was not added to stop federal funding of abortion, held true as did his coalition. These pro-life Democrats did not waver under the pressure being applied by Nancy Pelosi and abortion rights proponents and in the end Nancy Pelosi was forced to send the Stupak amendment to the floor for a vote. The amendment was passed 240 to 194.
Once the Stupak amendment was passed the fate of this bill was assured, there was nothing left that could stop the House from passing it.
There is really nothing more that I have to say about this that I haven’t already said before, everyone who reads this blog regularly knows how I feel about this legislation, the bill has passed it is time to move on. Our attention now turns to the Senate, and Harry Reid, and their version of the bill where there is supposed to be only luke warm support for the public option, this process still has a long way to go, the fight isn’t over.
America's Watchtower 
Since I live in Maryland I was able to go to the Washington House call on the 5th.
When we went into the House all the dems had been called to vote on lame issues just to keep them away from the People. Of course friendly conservative Republicans like Bartlet made their way to their offices to hear us and answer questions. The assistants left in the Dems office’s would not even speak to you unless you were from their district.
Your right the house vote is over take notes and move on.
What needs to happen is a true conservative ground swell that votes out all RINOS and Dems that voted for this bill.
I have made a personal commitment to convince at least 3 Dems that I know that they are actually conservatives and to vote accordingly next November.
Nothing could make me happier then to see every congressman who voted with Polosi lose their seat as a result.
If we don’t do it now we may never get another chance.
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I agree with voting them all out but I am afraid that 2010 will be too late.
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Just to clarify something, but the legislation in question is HR 3200, correct? I am trying to find the mandates section that talks about the possible jail time. Can you point me in the right direction?
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Rjjrdq is correct, the bill was amended and is now HR 3962. According to this press release sections 7201 and 7203 are the sections that mention the penalties for not having insurance.
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This thing morphed into H.R. 3962. How many of those 220 voters do you think actually read all 1990 pages?
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I would guess that none of them did.
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Yes, we lost a battle, but not the war and the outcome in the Senate looks more promising. I suspect the positions there are hardening with Harry deciding how to approach this issue with all the problems he is facing back in his home state—he likes his job and want to maintain his seat and title. Its very likely that by winning one he will lose the other.
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I hope that you are right Ron, but I am beginning to lose faith. Perhaps Reid’s vulnerablility will help to slow down this bill however.
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