The Daily Caller

The Daily Caller

A moment in the spotlight, welcome or not, for the handful of Democrats who will decide health care

John Barrow. Heath Shuler. Allen Boyd. Jason Altmire. John Tanner. Suzanne Kosmas. Lincoln Davis. Glenn Nye.

These are the members of Congress who will decide, in the next few days, whether President Obama’s health-care plan becomes the law of the land.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs 216 votes to pass the bill. By most estimates, she is five to 10 votes short.

Her target group, then, comes down to these eight lawmakers, along with a few others: Brian Baird of Washington, John Boccieri of Ohio, Jim Matheson of Utah, Rick Boucher of Virginia, Scott Murphy of New York and Harry Teague of New Mexico.

All of them voted against Obama’s health-care reform the first time it came to the House in November. Pelosi, having lost a number of votes for the bill from that time, needs to flip at least four or five of the former no votes.

On Thursday, as Democrats set a vote on the legislation for Sunday, Pelosi moved no closer to 216*. Two Democrats who voted against the bill last time – Bart Gordon of Tennessee and Betsy Markey of Colorado – said they would vote for it this time, while two Democrats who voted for it in the fall – Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Michael Arcuri of New York – said they will vote against it.

And two no votes from November who were considered to be possible pickups for Pelosi – John Adler of New Jersey and Travis Childers of Mississippi – announced they would vote against the bill again, shrinking Pelosi’s pool of targets.

Lynch, a former iron-worker and labor attorney who grew up in South Boston, was one in a number of undecided or opposed House lawmakers summoned to the White House Thursday to meet with the president himself.

The meeting with Obama – who has met with or called more than three dozen lawmakers since Monday, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs – failed to sway Lynch.

“I’m firmly against the bill. I’m not leaning. I’m firmly against,” Lynch told The Daily Caller after his meeting with Obama.

Democrats released the text of their “reconciliation” bill on Thursday along with a preliminary budget impact “score” from the Congressional Budget Office. The 153-page reconciliation bill contains fixes to the 2,700-page bill that passed the Senate in December, which many liberal House Democrats don’t like.

However, Lynch said he decided to oppose the bill because it does not sufficiently reform the health-care system, and because he does not think the reconciliation process will work, and does not trust the Senate to live up to its part of the bargain.

If Lynch’s concerns spread to other liberal Democrats in the days before a vote, especially as the complicated and challenging nature of the reconciliation process becomes more of a focus, Pelosi may have a problem.

Undecided lawmakers such as Boyd of Florida, Tanner of Tennessee and Altmire of Pennsylvania, exited hastily from the House chamber late in the day following a round of votes. Some other lawmakers, such as Markey, kept cell phones glued to their ears as they tried to escape out of the Capitol without talking to reporters.

Barrow was one undecided lawmaker who gave any indication of where he stood, stating that he was concerned about “revenues and spending” in the bill.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders hailed the CBO score, which said the health-care legislation would reduce the deficit $138 billion over 10 years. Republicans charged that the bill spend $2.4 trillion to create those savings, and said several hundred billion would likely have to be borrowed, actually making the net impact on the national debt a negative one.

  • moira1987

    Of the 8 “deciders” shown in the photos, four voted to allow the Slaughter solution and the other four voted against.

    Against the Slaughter solution were Davis, Shuler, Kosmas and Nye.

    For the Slaughter solution were Barrow, Boyd, Tanner and Altmire.

    Of the other members mentioned, Adler, Childers and Teague also voted against the Slaughter solution.

    Nobody seems to know why Lynch voted in favor of allowing the Slaughter solution…

    • moira1987

      I’d also keep a close eye on Brad Ellsworth of Indiana and David Wu of Oregon as possible NO votes, ultimately.

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  • thebigodoopedu2

    We need to stop fighting health care and all the monstrosities this Congress and Administration has caused and Focus only on GETTING THEM OUT NOW! Americans need to organize and flood the Attorney Generals offices, Senate, Supreme courts etc. and demand an investigation and the removal of Speaker Pelosi, Core leaders of our Congress like boxer, franks and others. Obama’s administration needs to be Vetted and all criminals fired. Obama needs to be investigated to as why he would appoint criminals in the first place and impeachment process needs to begin.

  • campbell62

    I pray God give these legislators the strength to withstand the gangster tactics being used to change their votes from the one they know is right for their district. May they listen to their constitutes and not choose to sacrifice their vote to SAVE Obama’s presidency.

  • aaarrrggg

    Once again they are after Social Security to fund part of this.
    Can anyone say War On Poverty?
    This is the best string of convaluted accounting I have every seen.
    In what reality do these people live where they do not understand that taxes have to go up to pay for this?
    I have a prediction, if this passes the VAT is not far behind.

    • anniebanannie

      What’s so funny about that is that Social Security has NO money “in it”, so to speak. It’s broke….been broke…broker than broke. They’re not just stealing from Peter to pay Paul, they are taking Peter’s grandkids and holding them for ransom.

  • katnandu

    In addition to the massive taxes that will be imposed by Obamacare, states will be forced to pay massive amounts in their respective medicaid and medicare programs. Many states are on the verge of bankruptcy ( Hello Illinois, California!) .Higher state taxes will have to be imposed to cover new massive entitlements. Deficit neutral….I don’t think so!

    • theneighborhoodguy

      Massachusetts is already broke…and is only being kept afloat by federal subsidies…their treasurer is having one heck of a time getting the message out that the system is broke and broken…and yes, Romney can and should be held responsible for his part in the mess…it didn’t work from the Republican side, either…it won’t work well anywhere…especially now that Timmy G. and the IRS will be in charge of the whole shebang…this is sickening really…it might be time to go underground for those who vote this crap in tomorrow…there will be heck to pay…

  • thebigodoopedu2

    This health care scheme will make rich people purchase their own Doctors. If you get 50 or so making over 100 grand a year it would be very possible for them to employ/share care. Many Doctors will choose this over serving the public sector. We poor folks will eventually be forced into medicare/medicaid and because most the hospitals and clinics and insurance companies will have gone under, they will be propped up by our Government. You will be paying for a private supplemental insurance that our government ran medicare/caid does not cover.

  • rainmaker1145

    Was that report that the whip is only two (2) votes short of passage correct or not? This report says the deal is 10 votes short, then refers to the original story.

    Is this news or wishful thinking?

  • elektramourns

    Jesus is a Democrat!

    • moira1987

      Take your meds, please!

    • thebigodoopedu2

      Yes please do the med thing.. :|

    • Jim Treacher

      Jesus is a Democrat!

      Luckily for Him, He’s got a fallback career come November.

    • anniebanannie

      You mean the Jesus the dems say doesn’t exist except when they want to trot him out and make a point? You mean the Jesus the left says we are supposed to separate from the government – except when they want to use him as credit reference? You mean the Jesus that our kids are not allowed to pray to in school? That Jesus? …..and now you want him to be a democrat?

      • godgnsguts

        Hmmm, let’s see, He is definitely not for abortion, not for over taxation, against oppression and tyranny, He SO hates CIA’s LIST, not ok with julio and bubba marrying each other, and he says not to feed those who refuse to work!
        Yeah I think I’m a have to go with a YOU”RE WRONG on that one!

    • godgnsguts

      Jesus is a Democrat!

      Hmmm, let’s see, He is definitely not for abortion, not for over taxation, against oppression and tyranny, absolutely abhors socialism, not ok with julio and bubba marrying, and he says not to feed those who refuse to work!
      Yeah I think I’m a have to go with a YOU”RE WRONG on that one!

  • erick1740

    The younger crowd who support this disaster are the ones who will ultimately pay for it. They are too uninformed and brainwashed to understand the damage it will cause. Very sad.

    • thebigodoopedu2

      When you have the stinky liberal left and 90% of the black population that blindly and disgracefully follow Obama’s lead JUST BECAUSE HE IS BLACK. that makes it hard for us. But, if we keep on the same road we are on now, things will get better. Obama and many other democrats know These Grass Roots movements have a lot of momentum and are plowing past partisan and racial barriers, they will prevail in the end.