Healthcare Vote X 2

Two votes on healthcare are scheduled in the House on Sunday as politicians navigate legislative procedure in an attempt to pass healthcare reform through the reconciliation process. “On the eve of a historic healthcare reform vote, President Obama rallied House Democrats on Capitol Hill Saturday to pass ‘the most important piece of domestic legislation since Medicare. Don’t do it for me, do it for the people who need help,’ he said. ‘Do it for the people who are really scared right now.’ The president’s appeal capped 24 hours of intense negotiation as Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed to get to a critical 216 votes, while working out late-breaking disputes within Democratic ranks over everything from abortion rights to geographic quarrels over Medicare funding formulas. After heated exchanges over a proposed procedure to ‘deem’ the Senate health care bill passed without a direct vote, the Rules Committee agreed to stand-alone votes for both the Senate bill and a package of ‘fixes.'”