Ohio's Kucinch, Boccieri bolt party, join Buckeye Republicans in no vote on healthcare bill

November 9, 2:26 AMColumbus Government ExaminerJohn Michael Spinelli

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Former Cleveland Mayor Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10),
pictured above on Meet the Press, bolted Democrats
by joining Ohio Republicans on no vote on healthcare bill.
(Photo/Kucinich Congressional Web site)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The thin margin of victory House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was able to garner when she brought the hotly contested healthcare reform bill to the House floor Saturday, could have been slightly greater had two Ohio Democratic congressmen voted yes instead of bolting their party to join the Buckeye State's eight Republican lawmakers in voting no. 

Veteran congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, the former mayor of Cleveland who added zest, spirit and color to last year's Democratic presidential primary contest, voted no on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, a bill that won the day by a mere two votes, 220-215.

Kucinich was joined by rookie Democrat John Boccieri, whose summed up his main reason for voting no the bill, saying he "agrees with the diagnosis, but not the prescription."

  Iraq war veteran and freshman Democrat
John Boccieri (0H-16) joined fellow Ohioan
Dennis Kucinich with no vote on healthcare bill.
(Photo/Boccierei Congressional Web site)

ln a statement posted on his congressional Web site, Kucinich, a staunch believer in a single-payer government administered system, said the nation should not "make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care."

He aid the bill will only continue the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies. He predicted that "America will someday come to recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit, single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good for America’s businesses."

Boccieri, who as an Ohio House member made several tours of duty in Iraq, said he supports quality, affordable health care coverage for everyone, but was disappointed the House bill did not go far enough to reduce the costs of achieving that goal.

Ohio Congressman John Boehner (OH-08),
House Republican Leader, voted no on
healthcare bill. (Photo/AP)

In his first term, Boccieri said that while some important regulatory reforms he fought for were in the final bill, such as prohibiting discrimination against individuals with preexisting conditions, stressing prevention and wellness programs, and capping annual out of pocket costs for patients, he voted no because "it is clear to me that too many of my constituents share my concern about the cost of this bill and how we pay for it."

All Ohio's nine Republican congressmen voted no on the bill. For Leader Boehner, he said Speaker Pelosi's bill was "the Mother of All Bureaucracies"  that would kill millions of small business jobs at a time when our nation’s unemployment rate has exceeded 10 percent."

Boehner, whose district is situated in southwest Ohio, said the bill would creat a "bureaucratic beast that will end the American health care system as we know it."

The man who always looks like he just stepped out of a tanning both even in the dead of winter, said the bill that squeaked by without the help of Kucinich or Boccieri, would do further harm by cutting Medicare, piling massive debt on to future generations and increasing Americans’ health care costs while using federal funds to pay for abortion.

Here's the breakdown by political party on how Ohio's 18 congressmen voted on the healthcare reform bill that was the first bill since Medicare was enacted to pass a chamber of Congress:

Democrats - Boccieri, N; Driehaus, Y; Fudge, Y; Kaptur, Y; Kilroy, Y; Kucinich, N; Ryan, Y; Space, Y; Sutton, Y; Wilson, Y.

Republicans - Austria, N; Boehner, N; Jordan, N; LaTourette, N; Latta, N; Schmidt, N; Tiberi, N; Turner, N.

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