Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO), a Blue Dog who voted against the health care bill in November, says she will vote for the new bill.
Markey told The Coloradoan today that she made the decision after seeing the Congressional Budget Office’s cost estimates.
“Particularly in the out years there’s significantly more deficit reduction and I have to say this is going to be the largest deficit reduction bill that I will ever vote for,” Markey said.
Markey is the third Democrat to switch from a “no” to a “yes,” following Dennis Kucinich and Bart Gordon. The switches bring Democrats that much closer to clinching the bill.
The switch is being promoted and praised by the White House, which sent the Coloradoan article to reporters.
“Throughout this process, Congresswoman Markey has consistently worked to improve this legislation and fought to ensure that health insurance reform legislation met tough standards of fiscal responsibility and deficit reductions,” White House spokesman Adam Abrams told the paper.
Earlier today, Vice President Biden suggested that the new CBO scores might bring around fiscally conservative Democrats who were nervous about costs.
