UPDATE: Harry Reid unveiled the senate healthcare plan and the CBO numbers were sparkling.The cost comes in at $847 billion, cuts the deficit by $127 billion in the first decade and by $650 billion in the second.The debate as reported below will most assuredly begin, possibly as early as Saturday with the Democrats having the 60 votes they need from moderates to break a Republican filibuster. The Republicans plan on doing all they can to obstruct the process and dont seem to care that they are only delaying the inevitable. It's something that in the future may have a political price.
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Sen.Tom Harkin assured Ed Shultz on MSNBC on Tuesday night that the Democrats had the 60 votes to break a filibuster and bring the senate health care bill to the floor for a vote.
He said he had been in a 2 hour meeting the night before and guaranteed that the Democrats had the votes to bring the bill, with the pulbic option with Harry Reid's opt out clause, to the floor.
However, Keith Olbermann and others at MSNBC showing that they dont watch their own network';s programming, followed with a show that asked whether the Democrats had the 60 votes.
If Harkin's assurrances are correct, and there is every reason to believe they are since he was emphatic , it means that Joe Lieberman was clearly given the choice of joining a filibuster or losing his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee and probably getting drummed out of the Democratic caucus as was called for here a week ago.
Harkin also said the three other Democrats who had opposed the public option, Lincoln, Landrieau and Nelson are on board in terms of breaking a Republican filibuster even if , in the end they vote against the bill.
Harkin guaranteed the bill will be voted on to at least open debate in the senate before congress recessed for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Republicans have threatend to insist that all 2000 pages be read aloud before debate can begin.
This is the last hurdle to passing the Democratic bill in the senate which only needs 51 votes and Democrats estimate they have 54-56 votes to pass it. Harkin predicted Obama would have a bill to sign before the State of the Union speech in January.
None of this success is any thanks to Obama who throughout the debate changed his mind, his position, flip flopped, and reversed himself every other day on the public option and was
willing to drop it when town hall protests got too loud in August. At one point he tried to call the public option "a sliver" of the health care bill, and that it wasnt all that important. Congress told Obama otherwise with Pelois and Howard Dean stating that it was "the centerpeice" of health care reform.
Congress took control away from Obama who did a
terrible job of handling the debate, taking the public option which had a 72% national approval back in June to almost losing it, then doing nothing to defend it over the summer as the news media, Brianna Keilar and Candy Crowely of CNN in particular, proclaimed it dead.
As I pointed out here months ago, it was
the congress who came to the rescue and saved it by publicly rebuffing Obama's attempts at droppnig it. Harry Reid then created the opt out clause which seems to have won over conservative Democrats.
Now all the Republican opposition, the rowdy, mob like town hall meetings, all the swastikas and Hitler signs and the $270 million spent by the health insurance lobby to stop the bill has come to nothing and the bill is certain to pass.
Comments
Harkin is so full of s*hit!!! He doesn't have the 60 votes to break the filibuster. Liebermnan is filibustering with the Republicans, and no GOP Senator is supporting it, which means the crack smoker Harkin doesn't have 60 votes.
If what Harkin says is true, the news would be plastered on every news website/blog, etc....., which is isn't. lol
Your right JC. Harkin is a notorious liar, and is only saying he has 60 votes in order to pressure and employ scare tactics. It won't work, as Lieberman won't budge. Thank God for that! I've also looked everywhere on the internet for a similar story about this, and couldn't find any. What does that tell you??? Pure bullshit on Harkin's part.
Harkin said he had the 60 votes back in September, and he still doesn't have them today. LOL!!!!!!! Typical bullshit artist Demo"crap" politician.
I hope the foul mouthed commentators on this blog eat their words when the health bill passes, and better yet, stop commenting here. I'm sure none of them wants government supported healthcare such as Medicare (for the aged, 65+, pays 95% or more of medical costs), CHIP (for children to age 12, pays up to 100%), or Medicaid (for the poor and disabled (pays up to 100%). They also must not be part of the 47 million uninsured. Rich foulmouths?
I'd love to know where Reid is going to get 60 votes from. Lieberman is going to stick to his guns. Without his vote, the douche bag democrats are screwed. THIS ISN"T PASSING!!! Not with a socialized, rationed care, Government option.
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