Related: Checking the Pulse of Democrats
Also see: Massachusetts Senate Vote Irrelevant
So how much pressure is Pelosi applying behind the scenes, huh?
"House lacks votes to pass Senate health bill, Pelosi says; Cites vehement opposition to some provisions" by Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane, Washington Post | January 22, 2010
Not the article that appeared in my paper!
WASHINGTON - As Democrats continued to grapple with the consequences of their loss in Massachusetts, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday eliminated the most obvious avenue for completing health care reform, saying the House will not embrace the version of the legislation already approved by the Senate.
“I don’t think it’s possible to pass the Senate bill in the House,’’ Pelosi told reporters after meeting with her caucus. “I don’t see the votes for it at this time.’’
Pelosi, Democrat of California, had struggled to sell the Senate legislation to reluctant Democrats since Tuesday, when Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate election cost Democrats their filibuster-proof Senate majority. House approval of the Senate package would have delivered the bill quickly to the president’s desk, allowing Democrats to move on to job creation, their election year priority....
Oh, now it is a priority! Pfft!
Having the House pass the Senate plan, as is, would be the quickest option, because it could go straight to Obama's desk for his signature....
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said that she is not ruling out anything, and that her party remained committed to passing legislation to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans and to curb rising medical costs.
Oh, is that what the bill is doing by forcing you to purchase insurance or pay a tax penalty? I'm tired of the boiled down shit, MSM!
"We have to get a bill passed," she said.
Yeah, so the government can get a new revenue stream going so it won't default.
House Democrats oppose several Senate provisions, including a tax on the most expensive, employer-provided health insurance plans, Pelosi said. A House leadership aide said Democrats in the chamber would be open to passing a modified Senate bill rather than passing the current one and then depending on a second piece of legislation later that would make fixes.
"Wew are not in a big rush," Pelosi said. "The House will take the time it needs to consider the options."
Despite what she and the WaPo say, we WILL BE GETTING the Senate bill!
Hey, what is ONE MORE DECEPTION by the politicians and MSM after so many, huh?
Bringing Republicans back into negotiations increases the chances that a scaled-down measure might pass even with defections by Democrats, many of whom want a more far-reaching bill.
NO RESPECT at all, 'eh, liberals?
Press secretary Robert Gibbs said there have been White House meetings focusing on a scenario that "merges the House and Senate products."
--more--"
So is the WaPo just throwing you a deke, readers?
Updates:
Snowe still willing to cooperate with Democrats on health bill
It’s up to Democrats to decide how to proceed after adding 1,200 pages to the legislation and undermining the process with closed-door negotiations that caused the public to lose confidence. It’s no wonder, she added, that some polls showed that the health care legislation had support of only 32 percent to 34 percent of Americans....
As the Democrats continued to absorb Brown’s election, several said Obama must forcefully help them find a way to avoid the humiliation of enacting no bill, and they urged him to do so quickly, to put the painful process behind them.
Which is where they will be sticking it to you, Americans.
I still think you are getting the Senate bill -- in the dead of a weekend night.
Or maybe not.
"Obama retools, focuses on job creation" by Associated Press | January 23, 2010
ELYRIA, Ohio - President Obama tried to revive his battered agenda and rally despondent Democrats yesterday with a renewed emphasis on jobs. His visit to this struggling Rust Belt city capped a tough first-anniversary week for a presidency that suffered jolts at the hands of Massachusetts voters and the Supreme Court.
“I’m not going to win every round,’’ Obama told a town hall audience. But striking a populist tone on a campaign-style swing, Obama pledged, “I can promise you there will be more fights in the days ahead.’’
He used the word “fight’’ or some variation more than a dozen times as he tried out a revamped message focused mainly on the economy, part of a stepped-up effort to persuade Americans that he’s doing all he can to create jobs.
“This isn’t about me. This is about you,’’ he said.
Right. All part of the pr blitz.
And I thought we got rid of that stuff with the last guy.
Instead of the anniversary celebration Obama might have expected, the week was one of the worst in recent times for the White House, with much hand-wringing and blame-casting among dazed Democrats in the halls of Congress....
Obama said a new stimulus spending bill emerging in Congress that the White House is calling a “jobs’’ bill must include tax breaks for small-business hiring and for people trying to make their homes more energy-efficient, proposals he wasn’t able to get into a bill the House passed last month.
Translation: the first one failed miserably, and they don't care about wasting your tax money by borrowing even more money to just throw away.
See: Administration Telling the Truth About Stimuloot
Hey, I'M SORRY to BURST YOUR BUBBLE, America, but I JUST REPORT and ANALYZE the STUFF!
Obama defended as necessary his administration’s widely unpopular moves to bail out financial and auto companies. He also stepped up his recent attack on bankers and bonuses....
What, after he took all that campaign loot from them?
You know, I see a lot of hand motions and arm flailing (along with a lot of hot fart mist) down there when it comes to the banks, and yet AFTER a YEAR nothing has been done at all -- except bank coffers being filled with taxpayer dollars.
I'm sorry, but I'm not buying the political bull anymore.
