Something I just realized, from reading about the tightening results in NY-23 – prior to the two special elections, Pelosi had literally a one vote margin on the health care. From the article:
Before Owens was sworn in Friday, Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat who won a special election in California, was sworn in Thursday. The two gave Pelosi the votes she needed to reach a majority of 218 and pass the historic health care reform legislation in the House.
The bill passed 220-215 late Saturday with the support of only one Republican. The Republican, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana, said he voted for the legislation only after seeing that Democrats had the 218 votes needed for passage.
This isn’t quite right; with both special election seats vacant, 217 would have provided a majority. If both seats had been claimed by opponents of health care, Pelosi could have held the vote before seating the new representatives. Without their two votes and without counting Cao, this would have left her with exactly 217 votes. Wow.
3 Comments
I think she had more votes than that
House leaders sometimes “catch and release” members who would be willing to vote yes if their votes are needed, but who are allowed to vote no if leaders have 218 yes votes. Yesterday House Whip Clyburn said they had 212 votes before Stupak’s amendment was allowed to the floor, and he also said the Stupak amendment gained 10 votes. That suggests that they had at least 222 members willing to vote yes if necessary.
Whatever happens in conference, the final House vote will be a nail-biter.
desmoinesdem Thu 12 Nov 1:27 PM
off-topic
Good to hear from you! For those who don’t know, Drew was the co-founder/creator of Bleeding Heartland (with Chris Woods).
desmoinesdem Thu 12 Nov 1:47 PM
Long time listener, first time caller
I stay up to date on the blog here, but living in Boston now don’t have a lot to offer the Iowa discussion. Unless you have a question about the VAN. 🙂
drew-miller Thu 12 Nov 10:52 PM