msnbc.com Staff & News Service
AARP backs sweeping plan; floor vote to take place on Saturday
WASHINGTON -
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is predicting that the House will pass historic health care overhaul legislation Saturday to extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and ban insurance companies from turning people away.
The Maryland Democrat said Thursday that House leaders would have the 218 votes needed to pass the sweeping bill that President Barack Obama has made a defining goal of his young administration presuming a couple of final issues are resolved. Hoyer acknowledged that the vote could be tight.
I wouldnt refer to it as a squeaker but I think its going to be close Hoyer said. This is a huge undertaking.
Hoyer said language on abortion and illegal immigrants was still being worked out but predicted those issues could be solved in time for Saturdays scheduled debate and vote on the 10-year $1.2 trillion legislation.
We certainly have well over 218 people who say they want to vote for the bill Hoyer said in an interview with wire service reporters.
The trick is making sure they have a comfort level with the provisions they are particularly focused on to allow them to do so he said. So I think thats what were in the final stages of trying to get to.
Democratic leaders shrugged off Tuesdays election losses in governors races in Virginia and New Jersey focusing instead on their wins in two House races a Democratic seat in northern California and one in New York that had long been held by the GOP. Both winners are being sworn in ahead of Saturdays vote.
AARP on board
Hoyer said the endorsement of the powerful seniors lobby AARP was a significant boost in advance of the vote.
Backing from the 40-million-member group proved a crucial stamp of approval when then-President George W. Bush pushed the Medicare prescription drug benefit through a closely divided Congress in 2003.
AARP officials said the organization lost 150000 members since July 1 because of their support for health overhaul. But in that time it also registered 2.7 million new members and renewals. Officials said they were confident their members would see the bills benefits.
If the AARPs clout doesnt close the deal for House Democrats Obama is expected to try to do it himself with a visit to Capitol Hill on Friday.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network also announced its support for the legislation Thursday and the American Medical Association which had endorsed an earlier version of the bill scheduled a midday press call to weigh in.
Senate delays
Action is slower on the other side of the Capitol where senators are awaiting an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office on legislation written by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others. The timeline there appears likely to spill into next year.
Republican leaders were scheduled to appear at a rally opposing the legislation outside the Capitol on Thursday led by anti-big-government tea party activists.
With no GOP backing Democrats will need overwhelming support from their own. An intraparty disagreement over how to prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortion has not yet been entirely resolved though Hoyer said that language being circulated by one anti-abortion Democrat Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana seemed likely to be the basis for an agreement.
Abortion and illegal immigration hurdles
Ellsworths language aims to strengthen stipulations already in the bill against federal money being used to pay for abortions. It would still allow people to pay for abortion coverage with their own money.
That distinction doesnt satisfy anti-abortion groups which dismiss it as an accounting gimmick. They say federal subsidies for insurance coverage would not be clearly segregated from private funds used to pay for abortions.
The National Right to Life Committee issued a blistering press release Wednesday night calling Ellsworths proposal a political fig leaf made out of cellophane.
Ellsworth said that didnt bother him: I know whats in my heart I know whats in my head and I think the big guy upstairs knows he said.
House leaders are also still grappling with illegal immigration specifically whether illegal immigrants who would be barred from getting federal subsidies should be able to purchase insurance coverage within new government exchanges using their own money.
The White House does not want this allowed but some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other Democrats view that position as too extreme. Hispanic Caucus officials were scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Thursday.
The House bill would provide government subsidies beginning in 2013 to extend coverage to millions who now lack it. Self-employed people and small businesses could buy coverage through the new exchanges either from a private insurer or a new government plan that would compete. All the plans sold through the exchange would have to follow basic consumer protection rules.
Seniors in traditional Medicare would get improved preventive benefits. Also the prescription coverage gap known as the doughnut hole would be gradually closed. However seniors signed up for private insurance plans through Medicare could lose some benefits.
In addition to raising money by cutting payments to hospitals and other medical providers the House bill boosts taxes on upper-income earners.
