House Dems expect vote tomorrow
Posted: Friday, November 06, 2009 2:54 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Congress, Democrats
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Democratic House leadership contends there will, in fact, be a vote tomorrow on health-reform legislation -- despite reports suggesting a vote could be pushed back to Sunday or even next week.
An aide told First Read that "assuming all goes well," they are aiming for a vote late afternoon/early evening tomorrow. The aide, however, conceded the vote could slip later into tomorrow evening.
"We still expect to vote on health care tomorrow," the aide said.
The only thing that could push it off -- aside from not having the votes, and Dems don't have those yet -- are procedural delays by Republicans.
But Republican leadership says that's not part of the plan.
A GOP aide said they are happy to watch Democrats "flopping around like landed haddock." (For those wondering, haddock is a deep water cod.)
"Any member has the right to make a motion to adjourn and walk off the floor," the aide said. But "in terms of strategy, no. We're not going to let Steny's waggin' finger blame us for this."
The reference to Steny, is Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader. Republicans also said they are hearing Hoyer is OK with the vote being pushed back to Sunday or next week if they don't have the votes tomorrow.
Not so, Hoyer's office says. But as far as getting to 218, a Democratic aide said, "All indications we've gotten is that we're getting there."
Translation: They don't have the votes yet.
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http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/06/2121653.aspx?ocid=twitter