So The House has passed their version of the healthcare reform bill. I'm sure Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and The White House are just as much pleased as they are relieved. The vote was 220-115. They needed 218 votes so it BARELY passed.
Having said that, now the harder part begins. The always contentious Senate will be next and there are no guarantees that it will pass especially with a bunch of moderate Democrats all demanding something a little different from the bill.
If the Senate does pass its version, then it's on to a House/Senate Conference committee where you can bet there will be a serious attempt to remove the pro-life abortion language that passed in the House version. If it is removed that is going to be a MAJOR role of the dice for the Democratic Leadership and The White House. Think about it. The healthcare reform bill just passed the house by a few votes. IF that pro-life abortion language is removed from the final bill, you can be sure that more thjan a handful of pro-life Democrats will vote no and the healthcare reform bill won't pass the House a second time. That looks to be the way it could play out. Stay tuned. I'm going to sleep. It's 11:30pm and I'm a little tired.
More Monday.