11.08.09 -- 3:41PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (212)

One Vote on Health Care Reform

There are many events in life that, while more or less predictable in themselves (House passage of the health care bill), turn out to have an impact and significance that is only truly apparent after they occur. The passage of the House health care reform bill last night strikes me as one of them.

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--Josh Marshall

11.08.09 -- 1:22PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (21)

Obama To Senate: Your Turn

President Obama in a short Rose Garden statement just thanked lawmakers for taking a "courageous vote" on health care last night. He said he is "absolutely confident" the Senate will do the same.

He didn't single out Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), the only Republican to break ranks and support the measure.

Read more about Cao here and learn his take on the vote here.

--Christina Bellantoni

11.07.09 -- 11:52PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (37)

Obama Releases Statement

Read it here.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 11:14PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (72)

Done Deal

House passes Dem health care bill by a vote of 220 to 215.

One Republican voted for the Democratic bill: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-LA). See this post from earlier this evening on the background to his vote. Here's Cao's statement on his vote.

Late Update: Here's the roll call on the final vote. And for those keeping score at home here's the roll call on the Stupak abortion amendment.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 11:08PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (70)

Dem Bill Passes

218 for; only one Dem yet to vote.

Late Update: We have one GOP vote for -- presumably that's Rep. Cao (R-LA), though no confirmation on that yet.

The final vote appears to be 220 - 215.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 10:58PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)

Final Vote Live Blog

10:58 PM: With amendments and procedural mumbojumbo out of the way, the actual vote is about to get underway.

11:01 PM: Not too much to talk about on a final vote live blog. Currently at 196 for, 29 Dems voting against.

11:03 PM: Currently ten more votes needed and 14 Dems still to vote. Presumably they're going to do this on a straight 218, just like in the Clinton years. No 'wasted' votes.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 10:30PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (31)

GOP Bill Goes Down to Defeat

GOP alternative amendment (i.e., the House GOP's bill) goes down to defeat 258-176.

Late Update: Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL) was the sole Republican to vote against the Boehner bill. No one seem really clear as to what his reasoning was. As I noted below, Rep. Cao (R-LA) is the only member of the Republican caucus believed to be in play. And he voted for it, though in a high stakes case like this it would not be surprising to see him vote for both.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 10:20PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (41)

Tweet of the Day

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) ...

I wonder if Michele Bachmann wearing a lei (on the Floor) means she has recognized that Hawaii is a state and President Obama is a citizen?

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 10:08PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (127)

Just Ugly

Scenes from today's debate that you really just have to see. Video after the jump.

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--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 9:36PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (115)

One GOP Vote?

Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-LA)

Roll Call reports that the House Dems may be able to pick up one Republican vote for the health care bill: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-La.) A former Jesuit seminarian, the Dems move to allow a vote on the pro-life "Stupak amendment" appears to have been key for Cao.

But also remember Cao's political position.

Read more »

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 7:27PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (72)

Dems Have 218, Long Night Ahead

A Democratic source tells us the House, which has been debating the health care bill all day, will be able to pass the plan tonight.

The source said they have the needed 218 votes.

Coming up is debate about the amendment dealing with abortion, and then the Republicans will get an hour to present their alternative plan.

Votes will start around 10 p.m. The final vote might happen close to midnight.

--Christina Bellantoni

11.07.09 -- 1:49PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (47)

Watch Live

Video:House debates health reform bill.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 1:27PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)

Pelosi: We Got This Thing

Pelosi emerges from caucus meeting confident that House bill will pass tonight.

--Josh Marshall

11.07.09 -- 10:27AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)

Big Day

After a late-night deal setting framework for debate, the House will vote today on its version of the health care plan. Before the vote, Democrats are getting a little last minute pep talk from President Obama.

Read our primer here, and if you want to see government in action today, click on C-Span.

--Christina Bellantoni

11.06.09 -- 11:18PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (46)

Bachmann's Fight against Terror Health Care

On the one hand it seems funny that a bunch of GOP Reps. would blow off a vote to strengthen the Patriot Act so they could hang out and speak at Michele Bachmann's Capitol Hill tea party event. On the other hand, since you have Republicans saying health care reform is a bigger threat than terrorism, maybe the whole thing makes sense?

--Josh Marshall

11.06.09 -- 9:05PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)

You Betcha!

Is it appropriate for Tea Partiers to use images of concentration camp victims to illustrate the horrors of health care reform? "You bet," says former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO).

Late Update: I went back watched the video in question several times. And though Tancredo said "you bet" to the "appropriate" question, it seems to me that he got confused in the cross-talk between him and the interviewer David Shuster. In context, I think Tancredo meant to say it was inappropriate, in other words, the opposite. The perils of live smash-mouth television. Don't worry. Tancredo said lots of other crazy stuff. But I don't think he meant to say this was okay.

--Josh Marshall

11.06.09 -- 8:02PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (16)

Dancing to Her Tune

How did Michele Bachmann's Tea Party extravaganza end up being embraced by the whole House GOP House conference? Find out here.

--Josh Marshall

11.06.09 -- 6:43PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)

The Unending Crisis

Daniel Levy looks at this week's bumps on the never-ending road to peace in the Middle East.

--Josh Marshall

11.06.09 -- 5:07PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (86)

The Freak Show We Live In

It's a pretty unhappy commentary that it has to be reported as news that people are taking issue with the use of pictures of the Dachau death camp as an illustration of the horrors of health care reform. But, alas, such is the world we're living in. Today Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) criticized Rep. Bachmann for the Holocaust imagery --- and really, what the hell is going on here? People carrying banners with Dachau and the crowd chanting "Nazi, Nazi" when the President and key Dems are mentioned. And GOP leaders just stand their whooping it up like it's all good stuff?

Anyway, pardon the outburst. So Israel says that. And now Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is calling the Dachau posters "inappropriate" and even crossing the red line of criticizing Rush Limbaugh's habit of equating Obama and Hitler.

Can't wait for the ritual apology. How long you figure it'll take?

--Josh Marshall