40 Democrats voted for the Stupak amendment and the Dem health bill. But House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) says it actually netted about 10 votes for the Dems’ health care reform bill. In other words, if push came to shove, 30 of those Dems would have voted for the final bill even if the Stupak amendment weren’t included in the bill.
When you figure that the Dems were certainly holding a few votes in reserve — just in case — on the final vote on the bill. You can see the Stupak amendment probably comes down to a matter of a half a dozen votes when the bill comes back for final passage.
