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December 19, 2009
GOP Firm On Stopping Senate Health Bill
McConnell: 'They want us to vote on a bill that no one outside the Majority Leader’s conference room has even seen'...'The final bill we’ll vote on isn’t even the one we’ve had on the floor'
GOP Firm On Stopping Senate Health Bill
WASHINGTON
Republicans threatened to delay Senate business with a health care read-a-thon this weekend as Democrats searched for 60 votes to advance President Barack Obama's signature issue. A forecast of heavy snow added to the list of complications.
At a news conference Friday in the Capitol, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., accused Democrats of trying to ram the health care bill through with dozens of changes as yet unseen, and promised to do all they could to prevent it.
"I think we've made it rather clear we're not going to expedite consideration of the health care bill," McConnell said. Added McCain: "I don't think it would be outrageous to ask for a bill that we haven't seen to be read."
Democrats, after a week of bitter intraparty disagreements over the compromises Senate leaders made to keep the bill moving, were still trying to come up with the 60 votes needed to overcome unanimous Republican opposition. Leaders kept negotiating with the only known Democratic holdout, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, on tough abortion restrictions that he would accept.
After a meeting with Reid that lasted more than an hour Friday, Nelson indicated he still was not aboard but would keep talking. "Hopefully, we're making progress," Nelson said. He added that there was a lot of room between his views and Reid's and they were "trying to close the gap."
Reid scrambles as deadline looms
By: Carrie Budoff Brown and Meredith Shiner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led a marathon negotiating session Friday with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) in a hectic bid to persuade the last holdout to sign onto the health care reform bill ahead of a key deadline Saturday morning.
Nelson was huddling into the evening with Reid, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a circle of top White House officials that included deputy chief of staff Jim Messina and senior adviser Pete Rouse. Nelson was seeking stronger language to prohibit federal financing of abortions and additional relief for his state from future Medicaid funding obligations.
At 8 p.m., Nelson left a meeting in Reid’s office, telling reporters, “There’s no deal.”
Three hours earlier Nelson had hinted at progress “if for no other reason than you understand each other’s position a little better.”
Despite the ticking clock for the Democratic leadership, Nelson said he wasn’t operating on a deadline.
“Harry has some time frames he is thinking about,” Nelson said. “But I don’t have a deadline. To me, you have to get it right.”
Wild Thing's comment.........
Fight to the end, PLEASE!!!
"Republicans threatened to delay Senate business with a health care read-a-thon this weekend as Democrats searched for 60 votes to advance President Barack Obama's signature issue."
This is good. Very good. Shows that our folks aren't backing down, and are fighting this thing. The Republicans have been fighting in the House and Senate...the fringe media hides it from us so many do not realize how hard Republicans have been fighting.
Posted by Wild Thing at December 19, 2009 02:40 AM
Comments
Firm, as in firm as stools, something they've been sitting in since 2006. Where have you been GOP? SOS about amending whatever the Dems want, SOS about going along to get along, SOS on the GOP agenda. SOS up for re-election, SOS being pandered as the stop gap measure, SOS being whined about right now. Nuff Whining!!!
Posted by: Jack at December 19, 2009 11:56 AM
Jack, good one, thank you!!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 19, 2009 11:45 PM
