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Nov 7, 2009 9:15 am US/Eastern
Historic Health Care Vote May Come Saturday
WASHINGTON (CBS4) ―
The United States House of Representatives could be on the verge of a historic vote on Saturday. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may have the votes to pass comprehensive health care reform that would help reshape one-sixth of the national economy. If the bill passes, it will have overcome decades of debate and partisan bickering. But there are two hurdles that still remain: abortion and immigration.
Despite the talk of death panels, single-payer systems, or universal coverage, the issues of abortion and immigration threaten to derail the health care reform bill. But the problems are not from Republicans, it's from Democrats.
Conservative Democrats, fearful of losing their seats during the 2010 election, will not support a health care reform bill unless specific language is inserted saying federal funding will not be used for abortions of any kind. Everything came to a boiling point late on Friday when a conservative Democrat introduced an amendment that would ban the public health insurance option from funding abortion along with any private plan that was part of the health care exchange.
For Pelosi, this presented her with the problem of trying to appease the conservative bloc of Democrats, while also trying to keep pro-choice Democrats in line. As of Saturday morning, Pelosi was planning on letting the amendment come to a vote, but if the amendment passes, the question becomes will the pro-choice Democrats still vote for the overall bill.
At the same time, Republicans may introduce language into the bill that pushes the issue of immigration. The issue would be not covering illegal immigrants. The hot-button issue could generate enough dissent inside the Democratic caucus, especially among Hispanic Democrats to derail a possible health care vote.
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