by Mark Silva
This is the week.
The week that the House passes the Senate-passed healthcare legislation and moves on to the fix that reconciles the plans of the two -- the way that House Democratic leaders and the White House see it.
The week that Republicans and wary Democrats prevent the president from engineering a "government takeover'' of American healthcare, the way the Republicans see it.
The week that the House starts going Republican, a GOP leader says. The week that Republicans and some Democrats as well go on record against health care for millions of Americans, the way White House political adviser David Axelrod sees it:
"Make my day,'' Axelrod putlicly told opponents on NBC News' Meet the Press.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said in an appearance on Meet the Press today that his party does not yet have the 216 votes needed to pass the bill -- a number shaved by some vacancies in the House -- but they will this week.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said today on CNN's State of the Union that he will do everything in his power to prevent that bill from becoming law.
Axelrod, the president's senior political advisor, voiced optimisim that the House vote will come to pass -- the president has delayed a planned Asian and Pacific trip by three days to stay and ensure that it does.
"We are very optimistic about the outcome of this process,'' Axelrod said today. "I think people have come to the realization that this is the moment, and if we don't act now, there will be dire consequences for people all over this country in terms of higher rates, in terms of being excluded from health care if they have preexisting conditions or being thrown off of their health care if they become sick, dire consequences for small businesses who are being priced out of the insurance market today, individuals who are being priced out of the insurance market today.''
Bottom line, CNN's Candi Crowley asked, has the president got the votes?
"I think he will -- I think we will have the votes to pass this,'' Axelrod said. "Obviously, this is a struggle. Look, the lobbyists for the insurance industry have landed on Capitol Hill like locusts, and they are going to be doing everything they can in the next week to try and muscle people into voting. Many on the other side of the aisle have decided that it would be a political victory for them if health insurance reform were defeated, so it's a -- it's a struggle, but I believe we are moving in the right direction.''
Axelrod had this to say about Republican warnings that Democrats will face a price to pay in the midterm elections if the healthcare bill is signed into law.
"Mitch McConnell has been generous, John Boehner, the Republican leaders, in giving advice to Democrats about how perilous this vote is,'' he said " I wonder what their motivations are in offering us advice about how to strengthen our party.
"But leaving that aside, the reality is that we have passed these bills through the House and the Senate. The Republican candidates are going to campaign against us on it. The question is, we have got the vote, are we going to have the achievement? Are we going to have the accomplishment? ...
"If they want to have that fight, let's have that fight,'' he said.
. "On the Sunday news programs this morning, representatives of the Democratic congressional leadership made clear they are intent on thumbing their noses at the will of the American people on issues ranging from health care to earmark reform," Boehner said later in an issued statement today. "Americans are shouting 'stop!' And the Democratic majority in Washington just keeps ignoring them. The American people aren't going to stand for it....
"Democrats may run Washington, but the American people are in charge of this country," Boehner said, calling the GOP's recapture of party control of the House in the November midterms "doable.... The moment a majority forgets this, it is writing itself a ticket to minority status."
Comments
By the end of the week, what in the bill is going to change? Nothing.
How are these votes going to appear? What little goodies will appear in the wavering democratic Congressman's goodie basket that will buy their votes? Just which of these congressmen will whore themselves out like Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson?
If this bill does not pass, will the democrats still push a bill to save all the Medicare waste that is currently in the system? Money that could be used to reduce the deficit and debt.
Posted by: Terry | March 14, 2010 9:36 PM
Yes this could be the moment, a moment in history. When the bill passes that will be the moment of the beginning for the end of the Democratic party as we know it today.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | March 14, 2010 11:24 PM
It's a little different from the Great Depression, isn't it?
In that, now, US is the only superpower and there will be no analogy to WW II to revive the economy.
Only federal expenditure will do so, a fact Replicans must KNOW at some very deep level, despite their posturings to the contrary.
And the one who is going to make the decisions as to how that federal expenditure will be invested is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
And will be sitting there for the next 7 years.
So, Replicans, just relax. Have some bourbon or whatever your favorite relaxing agent is, lie back, and try to enjoy it.
New Deal 2.0 is being rolled out before your very eyes.
Posted by: ornery | March 15, 2010 2:26 AM
LEAVE IT TO SNL TO DELIVER THE NEWS THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA WON'T.
VIDEO: SNL Slams Obama and Dems' Pathetic Health Care Push
http://www.americanparchment.com/video/2010/mar/snl_obama_health_push.html
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | March 15, 2010 8:22 AM
I am awaiting to see how Melissa Bean votes on the health care bill. If she votes yes then she will lose my vote and my families vote in November.
Posted by: Pat H | March 15, 2010 9:09 AM
How can any working person be against a health care bill? Do they believe they are invincible? I never did while I was working. With so many people being out of a job Health Care winds up being even more important to pass. Sure the Repukers don't want it as they are totally in the pockets of the insurance companies. Thankfully we have now a President that is standing up for the real Americans, the ones that work and are having a hard time making ends meet. All the Repukers want is for the rich to get richer.
Posted by: Phil B | March 15, 2010 9:34 AM
POLLS BE DAMNED (ALONG WITH THE DEMS VOTING WITH THIS TRAVESTY)
An Associated Press poll last week found more than four in five Americans want the final health care plan to have bipartisan support, while 68 percent said Democrats should keep working with Republicans, rather than pass a bill without both parties' support.
The latest Gallup poll measured the president's approval rating at an all-time low of 46 percent. Rasmussen Reports found Obama's approval at 44 percent.
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Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Think-Washington-is-partisan-now_-Wait-until-after-Obamacare-87520242.html
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | March 15, 2010 10:07 AM
Phil B
You may want to go back and check your facts. The Democrats are some of the biggest benefactors of the health care lobby. Just like they are bought and paid for by the trial attorneys. If they had the votes the Democrats would have moved forward by now. They have a few more weeks before they have to go all and face the music. And please Phil stop with the DNC's talking points. Try thinking for yourself.
ornery
You're right we do not have World War II to pull us out this time. Because when you look at the New Deal you will see right before the start of the war unemployment was headed back out because of it. History is so much fun if you know it.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | March 15, 2010 10:56 AM
I see that the Pentagon, or is it, Oxymoron, is going that extra Furlong, in it's attempt to muddy the waters, anything President Obama. Now, we find out, surprise, surprise, that we had a rogue operative in our Defense Department that was running a hit squad, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Military-Indusrial Complex strikes again !! We don't need no stinking healthcare, we need more hit squads. That is was democracy is all about, murdering our enemies, through any channels we wish to use, including our own Defense Department !! What a pathetic band of miscreants, that claim to be patriots !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | March 15, 2010 1:05 PM
crooks_in_dc,
For your information I do know that there are Dems that are just as crooked as the Rupukes are but no where as many.
I have had a very lucky life working till I was able to retire, many other hard working Americans have done the same but lost their jobs for one reason or another. I have a great health plan and would not mind for one second to give up a little for all Americans to have Health Care. This is what is totally wrong in our country anymore, people only want for themselves. No caring for others. For those that do not want any health care I do wish you or all of the members in your Family that feel the same way ..... the losing of your job. Maybe then you will figure out what it means to help your fellow man.
Sorry buddy, but you make me sick.
phil
Posted by: Phil B | March 15, 2010 1:21 PM
When people here talk about how the Democrats are going to be defeated in November I'm reminded of what Mark Twain said when he read about his death - "reports of my demise are greatly exagerrated". The fact is that the health care bills are going to pass and that will give Obama and the Democrats a bump in the polls. The economy is recovering and will be better in 6 months than it is now. Another bump.
What exactly will Republicans run on? Their ability to obstruct passage of bills in the Senate? Their ability to keep Obama's appointments from being approved? Their ability to take credit for the parts of the stimulus package that help their own districts while blasting the rest of it? Their ability to criticize the administration's handling of foreign terrorists while the military under Obama's leadership successfully kills and captures multiple high-level targets?
The fact is that Obama has shown that he is an extremely capable leader, with an ability to make progress on many difficult issues simultaneously. He is operating in an extremely hostile environment in which almost every Democratic initiative is opposed by every Republican. Republican leadership thinks their best bet for November is to sit on the sidelines and jeer the President's every move. That attitude is going to keep them on the sidelines for a long time.
Posted by: Mike_from_Chicago | March 15, 2010 1:49 PM
LET'S SEE IF THIS "MAKES THEIR DAY". IT WILL SURELY "MAKE" MANY OF THEIR CAREERS . . . OVER.
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Swing Districts Oppose Health Reform
Sobering poll news for 35 key House members.
Voters in key congressional districts are clear in their opposition to what they have seen, read and heard on health-care reform. That's one of the findings of a survey that will be released today by the Polling Company on behalf of Independent Women's Voice. The survey consisted of 1,200 registered voters in 35 districts represented by members who could determine the outcome of the health-care debate. Twenty of those members voted for the House bill in November but now may be reconsidering. Fifteen voted against the bill but are under tremendous pressure to change their vote.
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The survey shows astonishing intensity and sharp opposition to reform, far more than national polls reflect. For 82% of those surveyed, the heath-care bill is either the top or one of the top three issues for deciding whom to support for Congress next November. (That number goes to 88% among independent women.) Sixty percent want Congress to start from scratch on a bipartisan health-care reform proposal or stop working on it this year. Majorities say the legislation will make them and their loved ones (53%), the economy (54%) and the U.S. health-care system (55%) worse off—quite the trifecta.
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Seven in 10 would vote against a House member who votes for the Senate health-care bill with its special interest provisions. That includes 45% of self-identified Democrats, 72% of independents and 88% of Republicans. Three in four disagree that the federal government should mandate that everyone buy a government-approved insurance plan (64% strongly so), and 81% say any reform should focus first on reducing costs. Three quarters agree that Americans have the right to choose not to participate in any health-care system or plan without a penalty or fine.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704416904575121541779736742.html
Posted by: Bobby Mobbie | March 15, 2010 3:23 PM
Phil B
Sorry buddy but I do not count on anything from the federal government. I do not count on social security being there when I retire. But I think it would only be fair if you can only take out what you put in. And I also believe that government pensions are a drain on the rest of the working people. And what's the bull about nobody wanting healthcare reform. The vast majority want healthcare reform but they do not want the current bill passed because it is not real reform. And everybody knows most politicians are crooks. And your self-righteousness makes me sick.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | March 15, 2010 4:04 PM
Ornery,
The New Deal, namely Social Security, is one of the reasons this country is in the financial mess it is in today.
Posted by: Terry | March 15, 2010 7:34 PM
I think quite a few folk over 66 might disagree with you.
Anyway, GOP should applaud Dems voting in health care--if they really think that'll put Dems in the minority!
Posted by: ornery | March 16, 2010 1:25 AM
Ornery,
I can think of quite a few more people under 40 who wonder if they ever will get any money from this generational Ponzi scheme.
The GOP won't and should not applaud this newest and entitlement since they knbow it is the entitlments that put this country in a financial mess.
Posted by: Terry | March 16, 2010 7:51 PM