Leaked Internal House Memo Shows Dems Short Of Votes On Health Care Bill

Look for the Democrat party leadership and the White House to dig deeper for pork to throw around, as a highly confidential House Whip count shows the votes just aren’t there to pass a health care bill with a ~~government~~ public option. Greg Sargent at Plum Line obtained the confidential doc, compiled by House leader James Clyburn, and distributed privately at a meeting between Clyburn and House progressives yesterday. Plum Line reveals:

Health care reformers are eagerly awaiting the House vote count numbers on the robust public option — which would reimburse providers at Medicare rates plus five percent — because a House bill with a strong public option would increase the of leverage House leaders in upcoming conference negotiations with Senate leaders over the final bill. The exact count has been hotly debated in political circles since last week.

Clyburn told the assembled members at the meeting that the leadership does not have the votes to pass the robust public option, according to a House progressive familiar with the meeting. That sparked aggressive pushback from liberals, who argued that leadership — and the White House — should be working harder to win over the remaining votes the bill needs.

The document shows that 47 House Dems are committed No votes, and eight are Leaning No, for a total of 55. That means of 256 House Dems, just under 200 remain, and a dozen of those are listed as undecided. The bill needs 218 votes for passage.

Now the real “Chicago politics” begin. Do not for a minute discount the depths these people will go to to win.

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