The House now tackles reconciliation. Obama’s signature legislation, now headed to his desk, is just one part of the deal. The second part is another bill that takes on the changes to the bill through reconciliation. The House is tackling that now, and that heads to the Senate later this week. But not without a little bit of contention to make things exciting. source
They stood strong. They stood on the principle of a belief. And I’m proud of them.
Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak • At a press conference regarding the deal he made with a number of other congressmen to block funding for abortion in the final bill. Dude stood by his principles and won. Gotta give him credit for that at least. This bill’s likely going to pass tonight, as the vote count is now safely over the magical 216 needed for passage. Interesting political theater today. source
There’s a lot of crap going on today. First, it was reported that Bart Stupak and his contingency switched to “yes” on health care. However, not everyone agrees. Either way, watch the live video here. And stop complaining so much. It makes you look bad.
So I’m having a hard time tonight trying to believe almost uniformly white tea partiers are anything other than a racist, right-wing reaction to the election of an African American president who brings with him feminists and gays (even if he doesn’t do as much for them as they would ideally like).
Salon writer Joan Walsh • Regarding yesterday’s heated health care situation, where some awful Tea Party precedents hit their ugly head. First, Rep. John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, was called the N-word (which she repeated but we won’t) at least fifteen times. Second, fellow Congressional Black Caucus leader Rep. Emanuel Cleaver was spat on by a tea partier. Third, popular gay Rep. Barney Frank was called a “homo” and F-word (not that one, the other one) by the same folks. Finally, Rep. Louise Slaughter had a brick thrown through her congressional office in Niagra Falls. Dissent is one thing, but holy crap dudes. What does health care have to do with this? You did a lot to set your cause back yesterday. source
People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.
Rep. Bart Stupak • Regarding the Senate version of the health care bill that he’s been pushing against due to its language on abortion. The House version, which Stupak had a hand in pushing, has stronger language. Regarding the updated bill, he claimed that he could wrangle 12 representatives to support him, but that’s looking less likely due to the hard work Obama’s putting in to woo these specific voters. Oh, and the fact that it’s almost exactly the same language. source