Posted by
Defend America on Saturday, March 20, 2010 10:05:23 PM
In Scramble for 216, Sanchez Presents Unexpected Hurdle
By
Tory Newmyer
Roll Call Staff
March 20, 2010, 9:32 p.m.
As their whip efforts narrow to a just handful of
Members, House Democratic leaders are facing an unlikely problem vote:
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.).
Sanchez was nowhere to be found on Saturday —
she was in Florida on a fundraising jaunt, two Democratic sources said
— and while leaders expected her to return for the Sunday vote on final
passage, they weren’t assured. What’s more, leaders now list the Orange
County Democrat as a “no” vote.
Sanchez’s office did not return a request for
comment Saturday evening. She cast her last vote shortly after 6 p.m.
Friday and missed all seven recorded votes on Saturday, a review of the
record shows.
Democratic hand-wringing about her status —
geographically and intentionally — underlines just how tight the margin
has become for leaders trying to zero in on 216 votes as the clock
ticks down to their appointed deadline. Leaders are still hunting for a
winning coalition of votes — and still struggling for a breakthrough
abortion fix that will convert three or four holdouts angling for
tougher protections against public funding of the procedure.
Sanchez this week told the Orange County
Register that she needs to be satisfied that the health care overhaul
is affordable. “The Senate bill is a bad bill,” she told the paper.
Politically, the vote should be a relatively
easy lift for Sanchez. The seven-term lawmaker has been re-elected with
at least 60 percent of the vote since 2000, winning by a decisive 69
percent in 2008. President Barack Obama carried the district by 60
percent.
http://www.rollcall.com/news/44440-1.html