Health bill narrowly passes House

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091108/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120220977

"The House bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats."

I called in a favor to my cousin there! You can thank me later, Obama. Well I guess Cao was in a tough spot, getting fluke elected in a mostly Dem district just because the FBI found blocks of cash in his opponent's freezer. He voted yes to hopefully get re-elected (doubtful) by his liberal constituents, but pissed off the GOP in the process. So even if he does get another term, no one will want to work with him (as if anyone wants to work with a guy named Cao to begin with).

The bill narrowly passed the House, which has a much bigger Dem majority than the Senate. So if 39/258 Dems opposed the bill (15%), and the same percentage holds in the Senate, then they can't get the 60 votes needed (even with Snowe). Lieberman said that he feels "morally obligated" to filibuster any bill with a public option in it. So I guess anything that passes the Senate probably won't have a public option.

And Blue Dog Dems even had to inject a sneaky abortion proposal into the House bill for it to pass. These conservative Dems (they should just register Republicans and stop trying to have it both ways) are so worried about their re-election if they endorse the health bill, that they supported an amendment essentially making the ban on federal assistance for abortions permanent. And Pelosi caved. Apparently the ban is currently yearly and needs to be renewed (but it always is), stemming back from Clinton times when he needed a big bill passed and the GOP stuck that provision in there, so he had no choice but accept it to move his bigger policy priorities forward.

Of course it's not like DC is handing out free abortions all the time to piss off Jesus, but that's what conservatives fear I guess. They think that federal subsidies to help the poor afford health insurance will allow them to get abortions covered by their health plans (and currently many health plans do cover abortions), so I guess in a convoluted way that could be seen as gov't assisted abortion. But abortion rights groups worry that with this ban in place, that will encourage private insurers to drop coverage of abortion, because why should they when their gov't-subsidized competitors aren't? So I guess abortions will still be legal, but you will pay out of pocket (assuming the bill passes in current form).

And it's not like Obama would veto this huge bill (and the main mission of his presidency) over a polarizing issue like abortion.