Latest Updates on Health Scare Vote

House and Senate GOP Leaders Continue Hard Fight with Cards They Were Dealt!

• Obama postpones overseas trip until June.
• GOP Whip Cantor introduces resolution [with video] condemning "malfeasant manner" of House Dem Leadership.
• House Reconciliation Bill now posted.
• Family of Congressman Stupak gets abusive calls.
• Follow latest with House GOP Leader Boehner on Twitter.
• Check Code Red updates on Twitter.
• Latest Trends in House Vote Count. Check Your Rep.
• Contact Info to call Wavering Dems.

Four More Dem Yes Votes Switch to NO!

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), a key Pelosi ally and asst. whip is now a firm "no" vote and is refusing telephone calls from the White House. Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY), a sophomore Dem who had a tougher-than-expected re-election bid in '08, has told the Dem caucus he will vote against the bill. He joins Reps. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who have switched from supporting the first bill, in Nov., to opposing the Senate version. This in addition to the switch by Rep. Costello (D-IL) yesterday make the hill Pelosi must climb to pass this bad bill even higher.

House and Senate GOP Leaders United in Strategic Opposition in Final Push

MARCH 18: Congressional Republican leadership (L-R) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) lead a bicameral group of Republicans into the House of Representatives Chamber ahead of a strategy meeting at the U.S. Capitol March 18, 2010 in Washington, DC.

Senate GOP to Veto House Vote Bribes

News of some of the backroom deals and bribes offered by Pelosi and Obama continue to surface. From Human Events:

Buying the Blue Dog Democrats?

Most interesting rumor from the Hill yesterday: Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) who announced his retirement from Congress has been promised the job of NASA administrator in exchange for his vote, and Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.), another retiring Democrat, has been promised an appointment as U.S. Ambassador to NATO in exchange for his vote.

It will be interesting to note any job announcements from this Tennessee duo post-House retirement. Both voted against passage of the House bill back in November.

Track more House bribes here.

The following response from Senator Tom Coburn makes it clear that the Senate GOP will do whatever it takes to block these deals and expose those taking the bribes:

Wow! Don't tell me our Senate Leaders aren't fighting back!

• Senate GOP leaders are also working behind the scenes on a strategy to block the House reconciliation package if it comes to the Senate.
• Dem Senator Conrad suggests House reconciliation package will face severe challenge in the Senate.

CBO Numbers are "Preliminary" And Do Not Include Latest Changes

Dems did a lot of crowing Thursday about the CBO report they claimed would put the pricetag of this bill under $1 trillion and shave billions from the deficit. As usual, they are twisting the truth. The letter from CBO Director Doug Elmendorf makes it clear that this estimate is:

A preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft. This estimate is therefore preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections.

Got that? And as it almost always is with these projections, the later estimate is bound to be higher. In this case MUCH HIGHER! Does anyone really believe this bill will be a budget saver?

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) Ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, the man whose command of the facts stumped Obama at the Blair House summit had this reaction:

“The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that there is currently no official cost estimate. Yet House Democrats are touting to the press — and spinning for partisan gain — numbers that have not been released and are impossible to confirm. Rep. James Clyburn stated he was 'giddy' about these unsubstantiated numbers. This is the latest outrageous exploitation by the Majority — in this case abusing the confidentiality of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — to pass their massive health care overhaul at any cost.”

House Rejects Open Vote Resolution

House Republicans forced a vote on a resolution which would have barred use of the "deem and pass" rule sought by Democrats to avoid casting an up or down vote on the Senate bill which the Constitution requires they must pass before a reconciliation package is voted on. With so much public opposition to this trick it was thought the vote would be an early test of opposition to the bill in general.

Sadly, the resolution was defeated by 222 to 203. Many Dems who claimed to be disturbed by the rule voted against the resoultion which would have nullified it.

Still, the move by House Republicans casts more light on the unprecedented tactics Dems are using to get their way. Kudos to House GOP leaders for putthing this resolution forward and forcing a vote!

Confused and Overwhelmed?

Do you find the whole process a bit too confusing? You're not alone. Perhaps this 90 second primer on the history to reach this point will help:

Did that help explain things? Probably not!

Support Code Red!

The video above is one of the productions from the Code Red project of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee which has also been running hard hitting ads in the distrcits of vulnerable Democrats. They've made an extraordinary effort to develop media, track votes and keep up with the news of Dem corruption throughout the final stages of this process.

Once this health care battle is over they will need your help to push forward with aggressive campaigns against the Dems who have sold out to Obama and Pelosi corruption. Won't you help fund this vital effort that may lead to unseating Nancy Pelosi from the Speaker's Chair?