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House Democrats still wrangling Minnesota votes
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DiggWith Eric Roper up on the Hill tonight
For Minnesota’s House delegation, the health care reform package headed for a showdown vote late Saturday was less than a 50-50 proposition. Three – all Democrats – were expected to vote for it; four others – three of them Republicans – said they will vote against.
Minnesota's last uncommitted vote, Iron Range Democrat Jim Oberstar, has expressed reservations about public funds being used to pay for abortions, a possibility under the current bill. An amendment to ensure that does not happen was headed for a vote late Saturday.
Only two of the five Minnesota Democrats -- Reps. Betty McCollum and Tim Walz – were firm "yes" votes going into the last 24 hours of the do-or-die vote. And Walz’s support was only locked down on the eve of the vote, after assuring himself the legislation would address his concerns about regional inequities in Medicare payments.
Minneapolis Democrat Keith Ellison, an ardent supporter of the public option, had remained uncommitted as late as Friday night because he felt the public option included in the bill was not robust enough. He announced his support Saturday morning via Twitter.
Collin Peterson, a conservative “Blue Dog” Democrat who opposed the public option, said he would vote against the bill, citing its high costs and a host of other objections.
Minnesota’s three GOP House members – John Kline, Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen – were expected to join all 177 House Republicans who had stood ready to oppose the 2,000 page bill, which would create a federally supervised insurance marketplace where the uninsured could purchase coverage.
Kline, one of the Republican managers in the floor debate, called it an “Orwellian” bill that gives too much power to the government over health care. “It creates a huge morass of government bureaucracy,” he said.
Bachmann, who led a boisterous Capitol Hill rally against the bill two days ago, took to the floor Saturday to call it an assault against "freedom."
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