House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday appeared to have reached 216, the magic number of votes she needs to pass the Democrats’ health care reform bill, after Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla., switched to a “yes”, Fox News reported.
Kosmas was just the latest representative to change positions from last fall, when the House narrowly passed its version of the legislation, and there’s still a day and a half remaining before the House can vote on the Senate bill and changes to that bill – a lifetime in politics in which anything can happen.
The vote count isn’t an official tally but represents an estimate by Fox News, based on all the lawmakers who have gone on the record with their position on the new legislation and using as November’s House vote as a baseline.
There are still “undecided” votes out there, and the “maybes” are being counted as how they voted in November, when health care reform passed by a vote of 220-215.
The constantly changing vote tally on Friday has looked much like fluctuations in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
In one day, Pelosi lost one health care reform supporter but has gained three, according to the estimates.
A vote is expected Sunday.
Early Friday, Ohio Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat, announced that he will switch his vote to “yes”, temporarily putting Pelosi within one vote of what she will need. Then Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said he was switching to a “no” vote.
“I’m a ‘no’ unless they fix this,” he said, referring to what he sees as insufficient Medicare spending in rural areas.
DeFazio, who voted for the bill last year, complicated things for Democratic leaders. But he indicated he could still change his mind again.
But then Rep. Allen Boyd, R-Fla., said he’s flipping to a “yes” vote, bringing Pelosi back to 215. And Kosmas’ vote potentially would give Democratic leaders enough to pass the bill.