Healthcare reform: passed?
Mixed news coming in from Washington - in the 14th minute of a 15 minute vote.
On the radio (BBC World Service): 9 votes still needed - 207 yes votes so far cast.
On CNN: voting has started.
On the NYT: House is voting on the Senate bill. Other votes still to happen.
On some random spam site: "Health care reform passes - live video". Only notable because it has successfully gamed Google News and comes up at the top of the search results.
On Yahoo: 'White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just tweeted: "About 40 staff in Roosevelt Room with VP to watch the vote - President walked into the room to sustained applause."'
On the radio: applause is being heard...
And, it seems: a historic moment, with 219 votes to 210 (some sources reporting 212), the healthcare reform bill has passed.
Speculation on the BBC that the Republicans are nailing their campaign flag to the anti-reform mast because they believe the voters don't want this bill. My suspicion instead is: their anti-bill rhetoric was intended to intimidate Democrats into giving up on it - and nearly succeeded. They did succeed in getting it watered down, but as now, they appear to have failed to stop it.
If the Democrats had not passed this, they would indeed have been punished hard in November. As it is, I think they'll have a better chance.
On the radio (BBC World Service): 9 votes still needed - 207 yes votes so far cast.
On CNN: voting has started.
On the NYT: House is voting on the Senate bill. Other votes still to happen.
On some random spam site: "Health care reform passes - live video". Only notable because it has successfully gamed Google News and comes up at the top of the search results.
On Yahoo: 'White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just tweeted: "About 40 staff in Roosevelt Room with VP to watch the vote - President walked into the room to sustained applause."'
On the radio: applause is being heard...
And, it seems: a historic moment, with 219 votes to 210 (some sources reporting 212), the healthcare reform bill has passed.
Speculation on the BBC that the Republicans are nailing their campaign flag to the anti-reform mast because they believe the voters don't want this bill. My suspicion instead is: their anti-bill rhetoric was intended to intimidate Democrats into giving up on it - and nearly succeeded. They did succeed in getting it watered down, but as now, they appear to have failed to stop it.
If the Democrats had not passed this, they would indeed have been punished hard in November. As it is, I think they'll have a better chance.
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