Live blog of the House vote on health care reform - Yahoo! News
4 mins ago
10:45 PM ET: According to the current roll call, the Democrats have crossed 216 votes. If that holds, the Democrats have passed the bill. (Editor's note: Time for a Second Revolution has apparently come. God help this country. Indeed, God help us all.)
10:41 PM ET: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just tweeted: "About 40 staff in Roosevelt Room with VP to watch the vote - President walked into the room to sustained applause."
10:31 PM ET: The voting has begun! House members have 15 minutes to vote. Cue Jeopardy music.
10:25 PM ET: Pelosi speaks on behalf of the bill, thanks President Obama, fellow Democrats, the late Senator Ted Kennedy.
10:14 PM ET: Boehner, after giving a fiery speech, yields the floor. Speaker Pelosi is now up, and will be the final speaker before the roll call vote will begin.
10:06 PM ET: Republican Minority Leader John Boehner now speaking, his speech built around the refrain "hell no!" The vote will probably start in the next 15 to 30 minutes.
9:47 PM ET: Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor speaking now. Republican Minority Leader John Boehner and Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be up to speak shortly. After they're done, the first vote will finally begin.
9:28 PM ET: If the Democrats do succeed tonight, get ready for a flurry of media profiles trumpeting the power of Nancy Pelosi. As this story from this morning's New York Times shows, Pelosi drove this process as much President Obama did.
9:12 PM ET: More debate, still no new news. First vote on the original Senate bill should occur shortly. Remember, even if the second vote on the fixes to the Senate bill fails, or the Senate fails later this week to pass those same fixes, once the House has passed the Senate bill President Obama can sign it into law.
8:40 PM ET: Jo in comments asks: "When does this grandstanding end [and] the vote happen?" The first vote, on the original Senate bill (I was wrong about this earlier), should start in the next hour. The second vote will happen sometime around 11 PM ET. Then, remember, President Obama will speak from the East Room.
8:32 PM ET: A Democratic aide reiterated to The Washington Post's Greg Sargent what Bart Stupak said to reporters earlier: “We’re well past 216.”
8:17 PM ET: A reminder: if you have any questions about what's happening, leave a comment or tweet at me at @agolis.
8:13 PM ET: Debate continues, no news. Just a lot of rhetoric and talking points.
8:02 PM ET: While the House debates, I highly recommend you read Calvin Woodward's historical look at how significant an accomplishment this would be if Democrats can pull it off.
7:45 PM ET: Planned Parenthood and NARAL join NOW in criticizing President Obama's deal with pro-life Democrats led by Bart Stupak.
7:35 PM ET: For folks asking about the policy details of the bill, check out CBS's great rundown here. (via Mark Knoller)
7:30 PM ET: David Shuster on MSNBC makes a good point: that Diane DeGette, co-chair of the House pro-choice caucus, just spoke on the House floor without mentioning abortion strongly indicates that pro-choice Democrats are accepting President Obama's deal with pro-life Democrats led by Bart Stupak.
7:20 PM ET: Nate Silver, the master of predictions, rounds up the latest vote counts from major media organizations and predicts that the bill will pass with 220 votes, 4 more than it needs.
7:05 PM ET: A few people in comments have asked why the bill makes buying insurance mandatory for every American. The thinking is that if the government makes it illegal to deny someone insurance because of a pre-existing condition, people will wait until they are sick to buy insurance. That would cause the costs of insurance companies to skyrocket. So, this bill would (over time) ban insurance companies from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, mandate that everyone buy coverage, and provide subsidies to help people afford to do it.
6:56 PM ET: The White House has released two pictures of President Obama working the phones today. See them here and here.
6:48 PM ET: For anyone just joining us: the House has just officially started debate on health care reform. In light of the deal announced earlier today between President Obama and pro-life Democrats on abortion, it is now widely expected that Democrats will be able to pass the bill. The first vote that will happen in a few hours will be on the bill passed by the Senate in December. The second vote, which may take place close to or even after midnight eastern time, will be on the fixes the House wants to make to that bill. Democrats need 216 votes to pass each.
6:32 PM ET: The House just passed the rules for tonight's debate, 224 to 206. Now on to debate on the legislation itself.
6:30 PM ET: Caroline Sharp has released a statement criticizing President Obama's deal with pro-life Democrats. The group argues that Obama's agreement to sign an executive order reemphasizing that federal funds in the health care bill cannot be used to fund abortions sends the message that "it is acceptable to negotiate health care on the backs of women, and we couldn't disagree more."
6:12 PM ET: The House is now voting on the rules they will follow during tonight's debate. When they finish, they will start to debate on the first of two pieces of legislation they will vote on: the "fixes" to the original Senate bill and then the original Senate bill itself.
6:00 PM ET: If you have any questions about what's happening, leave a comment or tweet at me at @agolis. I'll try to answer a few as I go.
5:54 PM ET: The Hill reports that House Minority Leader John Boehner is telling his fellow Republicans to "behave like grown-ups" if the healthcare reform bill passed tonight. (via TPM's Countdown to Reform Wire)
5:33 PM ET: Worth noting: the House is voting on two things tonight, the original Senate bill and a set of "fixes" to that bill that it wants. If both pass, the Senate will take up the "fixes" this week so that both houses have passed the same legislation. However, even if the Senate fails to pass the "fixes", President Obama can sign the original Senate bill into law. House Democrats do not prefer this, because the original Senate bill includes controversial deals that the "fixes" bill would remove like the "Cornhusker Kickback." But if the House succeeds tonight, there will definitely be a health care reform bill signed into law. So it's a big deal.
5:19 PM ET: Asked about Boehner's claim that a vote for the House bill is a vote for "taxpayer-funded abortions," Bart Stupak just told MSNBC's David Shuster "I totally disagree. [...] I'm afraid Leader Boehner is mistaken." He also noted that he believes Democrats in the Senate have 52 votes for reform, just one more than the 51 needed for passage within the reconciliation process (our explanation of the reconciliation process is here).
5:10 PM ET: The White House says President Obama will speak from the East Room tonight after the House completes its votes. At this rate, though, it might technically be "tomorrow" when Obama speaks. The final vote may happen late late late tonight.
5:06 PM ET: Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who worried some Democrats when she "went missing" yesterday, has returned to Washington and will be voting today. It is unclear if she will end up voting yes or no on the final bill. (via TPM's Countdown to Reform Wire)
4:50 PM ET: House Minority Leader John Boehner, responding to the news that the President would sign an executive order on abortion, just released this statement: Make no mistake, a ‘yes’ vote on the Democrats’ health care bill is a vote for taxpayer-funded abortions." You can read the statement here.
4:20 PM ET: Asked by a reporter if support from his group of Democrats meant that the House leadership now had the 216 votes necessary to pass the bill, Stupak responded: "We are well past 216, yes."
4:15 PM ET: Congressman Bart Stupak just announced that he and a half a dozen other pro-life Democrats who had threatened to withhold their support will vote for health care reform. They will do so because of a promise from President Obama that he will sign an executive order reiterating that no federal funding from the bill can be used to fund abortions. You can read the text of the executive order here. (LATE UPDATE: WonkRoom has video highlights of Stupak's press conference you can watch here).
3:30 PM ET: The House of Representatives is now debating and on its way to two final major votes on health care reform. Democrats appear confident and have been telling the media all weekend that when the time comes, they will have the 216 votes necessary to both endorse the original Senate bill and pass a set of fixes to it. We are still waiting for a final announcement from pro-life Democrats led by Bart Stupak (our post on who he is here) who say they may withhold support from the bill unless they get more assurances that it will not provide funding for abortions.
Debate and initial votes on parliamentary proceedures will dominate the afternoon, with the first vote on the fixes the House wants to the Senate bill to come sometime in early evening (7 to 8 PM ET). The second vote, on the original Senate bill, will follow a few hours later.
CORRECTION: I was wrong on this, they will be voting on the original Senate bill first and then the fixes the House wants to make to it.
- Andrew Golis is the Editor of the Yahoo! News blog.
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