Rep. Nunes (R-CA) on slurs and epithets (“n—-r” and “f—-t”) from Tea Partiers in the Capitol yesterday. His take? Basically, you brought it on yourselves. “When you use totalitarian tactics, people begin to act crazy. And I think, y’know there’s people that have every right to say what they want. If they want to smear someone they can do it. It’s not appropriate. and I think I would stop short of characterizing the 20,000 people who were protesting that all of them were doing that.”
See the video.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) just told reporters a short time ago, a protestor watching the House proceedings from the gallery got rowdy, yelling “Kill the Bill.” He resisted four Capitol Hill police officers trying to remove him from the gallery and as this was happening he was cheered loudly by dozens of House Republicans.
“I’ve never seen members of the House cheering on a guy resisting being kicked out of the gallery,” said Frank. “It’s a dangerous situation and the Republicans are cheering him on.”
In general, Frank says things seem a bit calmer with the protestors than they were yesterday.
After six years under President Bush and twelve years as the congressional minority, the Democrats took over Congress in 2006 and then expanded their majorities and elected a president in 2008. If they lose that majority only four years in it will be a painful reckoning for all the work, doggedness and creativity that went into building that rumbling machine that brought the Democrats back to power only a few years into what was formerly known as their permanent minority.
But as I’ve mulled these possibilities over the last few weeks I keep coming back to two realizations. The first we know but tend to forget, that majorities are built to defend and better the country, not the other way around. Read More
MSNBC is reporting that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) is moving into the Yes column. Presumably that signals a deal on the executive order negotiations. We have not yet been able to confirm the Stupak news independently.
Late Update: What we’re hearing suggests that the Stupak issue may not be as clear cut as MSNBC suggests. I would not take that to mean that the MSNBC report will turn out to be wrong. Quite possibly this is where it’s going. But not there yet, or at least they’re unwilling to say so publicly.
Later Update: CNN says Stupak’s still a ‘no’ and MSNBC seems to be reeling back their report.
As you know, today’s the day. The House should make the key vote some time this evening. And our whole politics and health care reporting team will be with your through the evening. For the very latest, keep checking our live-updating Countdown to Reform Wire.
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) called a press conference and then cancelled it this morning. Originally, from what we can tell, he was going to appear with Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), another pro-lifer, who’s just announced her support for the bill. So what’s up with Stupak? He’s reportedly in last minute negotiations with the White House over the executive order language first discussed as a serious possibility yesterday. So it seems possible that if that’s ironed out, Stupak himself could be a later break into the Yes column this evening.
Things are moving so quickly today that there’s a ‘fog of war’ element to everything that’s happening. So we’ll follow up on this front shortly.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), one of the group of pro-lifers ostensibly led by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), will vote for the Senate bill.
TPM Reader AI pipes up:
Watching the whip counts, I remain fairly optimistic that Pelosi will get the votes. But I still can’t help but be bothered that this is even down to the wire. Really, this should not be a tough call for any Democrats in Congress.
We’ll be here through the day with all the latest health care reform developments. The House convenes at 1 p.m. ET, and Democrats are expecting the actual vote to come between 6 and 10 p.m. ET.
As described yesterday by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House will debate for two hours the reconciliation package, a.k.a., the “fix” to the Senate bill. Following the vote on the reconciliation bill, they will then vote on the Senate bill.
Do Democrats have the votes? Here’s the latest on that question.