Sun Shines on Health Bill

It was a sunny day today on Capitol Hill, particularly for health care reform.

Just before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held her press conference, one of the Democrats who voted no on the bill the first time around announced he would vote for the revised bill on Sunday.

“A lot of people are telling me this could cost me my job,” Representative John Boccieri, Democrat from Ohio, told reporters at a press conference held just outside the Capitol.

But, he added, “I want my mom to know I’m standing up today and doing what I believe in.”

It’s always good to please your mother, but in Boccieri’s case it was relevant to Sunday’s vote on health care reform. His mom had breast cancer when he was a child, but was able to get treatment because she had health insurance. Boccieri said he wondered what his life would have been like if she had not had health insurance.

With him were several constituents who are having trouble getting insurance or needed medical care.

“I feel your pain” always has been a good political strategy, and care, empathy, and other do-gooder emotions seem to be outweighing fear among Democrats. Abortion could still trip up the bill, as could some still-to-be-worked-out details concerning how Medicare payments are divvied up among states.

But Pelosi appeared confident those issues would be resolved by Sunday.

“We’re excited about the momentum developing around the bill,” Pelosi said at a packed press conference held in an elegant wood-paneled room just off the House floor.

That doesn’t mean Democratic leaders have the 216 votes they need to pass the bill yet, but Pelosi said they’re confident they will have them by the time Sunday rolls around.

Pelosi’s Republican counterpart, House Minority Leader John Boehner, held his press conference at a half-empty television studio deep in the bowels of the new Capitol Visitors Center.

It’s “crunch time,” Boehner said. “The vote’s pretty tight.”

Boehner said he would do everything he could to prevent health care reform from becoming law, but he isn’t in a position to do anything about it. All of his fellow Republicans already are expected to vote against the bill, but that’s not enough to defeat it. Only Democrats can kill health care reform.

President Barack Obama is determined not to let that happen. He’s calling members and meeting them personally and rallying public support for health care reform. Today he gave a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where supporters greeted him with his “Yes we can” campaign chant.

Obama once again painted insurance companies as the villains in the health care debate. They will “continue to run amok” if health care reform is defeated, he said.

“That’s why their lobbyists are stalking the halls of Congress as we speak, and pouring millions of dollars into negative ads,” Obama said.

“Are we going to let the special interests win once again?” Obama asked.

”No,” the crowd answered.

“Or are we going to make this vote a victory for the American people?”

“Yes we can! Yes we can!” the crowd answered.

Boehner contended the American people “are screaming at the top of their lungs” asking Congress to stop and start over on health care reform.

But there were no mass demonstrations against health care reform on Capitol Hill this morning—just one lone protester, wearing a wizard hat, a tie-dyed shirt, shorts, and sandals. He held up a sign that featured a picture of Pelosi surrounded by two clowns. “Spits in Our Face,” the sign read.

This guy has been hanging out at the Capitol for weeks.

“It’s either this or look for a job,” he told curious onlookers.

This guy or a mom with breast cancer—who do you think Democrats will listen to?

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Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.