skippy the bush kangaroo: breaking! (or, actually, broken, by now)! we did it!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

breaking! (or, actually, broken, by now)! we did it!

sorry to be late with this news, but we have an excuse.** however, we are pleased to tell you, that it's all over but the voting.

stupak got his cover for his anti-abortion stance, which is basically an executive order re-iterating the hyde amendment. the hill:

rep. bart stupak (d-mich.) announced a deal at a press conference. he said the deal means democrats will have the 216 votes they need to win a healthcare reform vote on the floor.

"we're well past 216," he said at the press conference.

"eight or nine" democrats, including stupak, will support the healthcare bill because of the deal, according to an anti-abortion rights democrat.

"we've changed [our votes]," said rep. steve driehaus (d-ohio), who appeared at the press conference with stupak.

driehaus said he's seen the executive order and can now vote for the healthcare bill. he said stupak has signed off, as well.

driehaus spoke minutes before the press conference in the speaker's lobby.

separately, two other undecided democrats said they would vote for healthcare reform: reps. jim cooper (tenn.) and paul kanjorski (pa.).

apparently the pro-choice bloc was satisfied that the stupak deal did not roll back choice rights beyond established current law:

pro-abortion-rights democrats lined up behind the deal, signaling that healthcare reform's biggest and last hurdle had been overcome.

"it looks like it's a go," rep. jan schakowsy (d-ill.) said after exiting pelosi's office. "assuming that there's no final, final, final, final shenanigans that go on with the stupak people, i think we're ok."

rep. lois capps (d-calif.), the author of the abortion language initially approved in the house energy and commerce committee that stupak's november floor amendment replaced, was also satisfied.

"i'm pleased that we seem to be getting to the end," said capps. "i'm thankful that we're to the point where now we can concentrate on healthcare reform and we're ready to take a vote."

read the text of the executive order here.

you can watch repubs heads explode here.

**our excuse: once we heard stupak's 1 pm real time presser and knew the vote was in the bag, we took the afternoon off and saw tim burton's alice in wonderland. highly entertaining, tho the 3-d effects were minimal.

posted by skippy at 5:11 PM |