Just after 11pm EST, the House of Representatives passed the 2,000+ page Pelosi Health Care bill by a vote of 220-215. 39 Democrats were given the opportunity to vote no, in what will go down in history as the most ‘structured’ roll call of all time. (1 GOP member, Rep. Cao from New Orleans voted with the Democrats.) The Senate is unlikely to take up any health care reform legislation this year. With unemployment expected to stay above 10% through at least the early part of next year, it isn’t certain the Senate will ever take it up.
This wasn’t unexpected. What someone will have to explain to us in the future is, why did the GOP let many pro-life Democrats off-the-hook by supporting the Stupak Amendment to, perhaps, prevent federal funds from being spent on abortion. As usual, the GOP tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and gave some conservative democrats cover going into the fall elections.
Update: Not really an update, but something we should have noted at the outset. Although Obama and Congressional Leadership have been stressing the absolute urgency of passing this bill, most of the provisions–the ones expanding benefits, etc–don’t take effect until 2013. (That’s a pretty long-lead time for something that is so urgent, if you ask us.) Of course, the tax increases take effect much sooner.
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