Under a new agreement the final, post-cloture vote, simple majority vote on Health Care Reform will come tomorrow morning at 7 AM.
The Senate just succeeded in the last of three cloture votes. 60-39. That cues things up for tomorrow’s vote on the actual legislation. A simple majority vote required.
So back to that C-Span caller all broken up that his Tea Bag group’s prayers to strike down Sen. Byrd got misdirected and clocked Sen. Inhofe. With the help of a TPM Reader we’ve found another call from April that seems to be the same caller making another prank call. Listen to them side by side and tell us what you think.
Republicans now trying to flip Dem Rep. Chris Carney into the GOP. McCain spoke to him today.
The story was broken by the Politico. And the tell is that the story was leaked to the Politico by a GOP source. That’s almost never what you do when you think you’re about to get the person, unless you’re certain its a done deal. The way these things get done is that you want to surprise the other side, so they don’t have a chance to counter-lobby against the move. So there’s a lot of psych-out going on here, in addition to possibly getting someone to move.
Late Update: The more I think about this, the more it seems clear to me that this is the Republicans trying to gas-light the House Democratic Caucus. You don’t leak something like this when you’re in the midst of a serious negotiation. Doesn’t happen. But if you’re trying to touch off a major freak-out among House Dems this is exactly what you do.
Later Update: I’m not sure how much to credit this. But a reporter on Fox News just said that it was actually a voicemail message (rather than an actual conversation) that McCain left for Carney, which, if true, dramatically increases my sense that this is a gaslighting game.
Bush Administration: Brought down by full weight of failures of Bush admin policies.
Obama Administration: Brought down by full weight of failures of Bush admin policies.
Obama: Once senate votes I’ll “roll up my sleeves” and get involved in reconciling House and Senate bills.
Sophomore Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA) has now released a statement, obtained by the Post, in which he says …
“I am flattered by the overtures of Sen[ator] McCain and other Republican Party officials and consider their outreach a sure sign that I have worked in a truly bipartisan manner,” said Carney in a statement. “I appreciate the Republican Party’s outreach, but I have no plans to change parties.”
A bit ambiguous. Certainly not burning any bridges. But also pretty straightforward in knocking down any notion he’s about to pull a Griffith and jump to the GOP. Carney also seems happy to pocket the GOP’s big thumbs up on what a good job he’s doing for future use in his 2010 reelection campaign.
For what it’s worth, here’s my read on what happened here. Read More
There you go. Senate passes health care reform on a final vote of 60-39.
For all the moment to moment details, see our auto-updating Health Care Reform wire. Our reporters are outside the chamber sending in reports.
From Brian Beutler’s write up of the final vote …
A tired Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) set the tone for the event. When the clerk called out his name, Byrd broke with protocol. Instead of calling out his vote, Byrd shouted “Mr. President, this is for my friend, Ted Kennedy. Aye.”
Full story here.