Posted by
Defend America on Monday, February 08, 2010 8:40:39 PM
By Philip Klein on 2.8.10 @ 3:55PM
As the Capitol reacts to the death of Jack Murtha and remembers
his legacy, it's worth pointing out that the news will make it
even harder for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to secure the 218
votes needed to pass health care legislation.
Back in November, the House passed its health care bill by a
narrow 220 to 215 margin, with 39 Democrats voting against it.
Since then, the one Republican who voted for it -- Joseph Cao --
has indicated that he would not support the bill a second time
around given the weaker language on abortion in the Senate
version. In addition, Florida Rep. Robert Wexler
already retired prematurely. Factor in Murtha's death today,
and Pelosi is down to 217 votes -- one short of passage. To pass
the bill at some point in the next few months, she'll need to
flip a Democrat who is already on record voting against the bill.
This doesn't even take into account the pro-life Democrats led by
Bart Stupak who are prepared to vote "no." While there's been
talk that Pelosi had some votes in reserve the first time around,
the point is that those members felt they needed to vote against
the bill -- and the political environment has deteriorated
substantially for Democrats since then.
With Murtha's death, the Cook
Political Report has now moved his Pennsylvania district to
the "toss up" category. If Republicans can field a good candidate
and gain the seat, it would further reinforce the fears among
Democrats in swing districts and make them less likely to jump on
board with Pelosi. Chris Cillizza suggests the most likely date for the
special election would be May 18. The special election to replace
Wexler is scheduled for April 13, and is expected to go Democrat.
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/02/08/how-murthas-death-could-make-i