The House today voted to table a motion from Republicans to stop their “deem and pass” strategy for a single vote on health care reform. And they accepted a second motion that essentially clears the way to move forward on a health care vote as early as midday Sunday.
Under a pledge by the House leadership, the bill would be posted for 72 hours before any recorded vote. That would mean that they could pass the Reconciliation Act of 2010 by 2:15 Eastern time on Sunday.
Looking at the vote count for the House GOP motion is very interesting. 28 Democrats voted with all Republicans against tabling the motion. Which Democrats joined the GOP, essentially against “deem and pass”? The names ought to be familiar.
Adler, Arcuri, Boren, Bright, Childers, Cooper, Costello, Dahlkemper, A. Davis, Giffords, Herseth-Sandlin, Holden, Kosmas, Kratovil, Lipinski, McIntyre, McNerney, Melancon, Michaud, Minnick, Mitchell, Nye, Perriello, Shuler, Stupak, Taylor, Teague
That’s pretty much all No or undecided votes, save a couple – Michaud (who the AFL-CIO is targeting, he might have to come off the board) and McNerney (who flirted with a No before, but who I’m confident will say Yes in the end).
More interesting is the set of Democrats who are also No or Undecided votes who voted to table this motion: Jason Altmire, for instance, who savaged “deem and pass” on Fox News. And Scott Murphy. And Betsy Markey. And Allen Boyd. And Brian Baird. And John Barrow. And Melissa Bean. And even Stephen Lynch, who’s yelling about “deem and pass” today. See for yourself.
This may mean nothing – the procedural vote is not a vote on substance. But for a few members, it provides an interesting clue into where they’re leaning.



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Hmmm… Why not vote with the GOP if you wanted to kill the bill? That certainly bodes well for Obama.