'Live Blog' of the House vote on health care reform
3 mins ago
6:32 PM ET: The House just passed the rules for tonight's debate, 224 to 206. Now on to debate on the legislation itself.
6:30 PM ET: Caroline Sharp asks on Twitter: " is the House really debating the 'fixes' before the bill itself? Doesn't it make more sense to debate the other way around?"
Yes, the House is voting on the "fixes" they want for the Senate bill before they pass the Senate bill itself. It would seem to make more sense to pass the Senate bill before passing changes, but House Democrats were worried that if they passed the Senate bill first they might loss the second vote on the changes, and didn't want to risk leaving the Senate bill intact.
6:25 PM ET: The National Organization for Women has released a statement criticizing President Obama's deal with pro-life Democrats. The group argues that Obama's agreement to sign an executive order reemphasizing that federal funds in the health care bill cannot be used to fund abortions sends the message that "it is acceptable to negotiate health care on the backs of women, and we couldn't disagree more."
6:12 PM ET: The House is now voting on the rules they will follow during tonight's debate. When they finish, they will start to debate on the first of two pieces of legislation they will vote on: the "fixes" to the original Senate bill and then the original Senate bill itself.
6:00 PM ET: If you have any questions about what's happening, leave a comment or tweet at me at @agolis. I'll try to answer a few as I go.
5:54 PM ET: The Hill reports that House Minority Leader John Boehner is telling his fellow Republicans to "behave like grown-ups" if the healthcare reform bill passed tonight. (via TPM's Countdown to Reform Wire)
Continues (hit refresh when necessary to update blog): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/201003...s/ynews_ts1288
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