Sunday, March 21, 2010

219 - 212...YES!!!!

After many hours of contentious debate, the House of Representatives has approved H.R. 3590 by a 219 to 212 margin (vote details pending). They're now talking about the reconciliation bill, which the Rs are trying to kill (strangely enough, they are trying to kill it on pro-life grounds), but it is expected to pass by a larger margin than the main bill did.

NPR coverage on passage of the main bill is here; a live blog of the proceedings is here.

More later...

Edit later on 3/21 -

The vote details are now posted.

Each Democratic member from Arizona voted in favor of the bill and in favor of better health care coverage and access for all Americans (thank you Representatives Giffords, Kirkpatrick, Mitchell, Pastor and Grijalva!!) and each Republican member from Arizona voted against the bill (boo! hiss! Representatives Flake, Franks, and Shadegg!)

34 Democrats voted against the bill; time for some primary challenges.

...and the reconciliation bill has just passed with 220 votes in support. The reconciliation bill will now go to the Senate for consideration this week and the President willsign the underlying bill within a day or so. It looks as if one of the Ds who voted against the underlying bill signed on to the reconciliation bill.

End edit...

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