After last night’s narrow passage of health reform legislation in the House (200-215), the bill is now proceeding to the Senate where it faces a very uncertain future. Odds are, one of three things will occur: a) the bill will die in committee; b) it will be filibustered to death on the Senate floor, or; c) the bill will be watered down to a point where any actual reform measures are useless.
Either way, I do not expect current Senate Democratic holdouts (Landrieu, Lincoln, Bayh, Nelson, plus Lieberman) to budge on their positions against health reform, even if it includes a state-by-state opt-out option. Further, don’t bank on GOP moderates like Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins to support the measure either.
As such, my hopes for the future of essential health reform are not upbeat. And for that, you can thank both our friends in the Republican Party, and the five Democrats (and one Independent) listed above.
(Note: Click here for a list of Dems who voted against the House measure last night. Interestingly—and perhaps unsurprisingly—the majority of “no” votes came from congresspersons residing in states which backed John McCain in 2008.)
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