While Louisiana’s Senator David Vitter (see below) was jumping ship on the health-care bill, the Democrats lost two of their own on another important health-care bill: Senators Ben Nelson and Jim Webb voted with all 40 Republicans to send Medicare cuts portion of the bill back to committee. That means that an astonishing 58 Democrats voted to keep $500 billion in Medicare cuts in the bill.
Jennifer Rubin calls this December 3 vote a day to remember, adding:
That’s right: 58 Democrats voted to slash half a trillion from Medicare. And those who are up for re-election next year will hear about it over and over again.
What’s more, two Democrats bolted. What’s that mean? A Senate source replied with his own question: “They couldn’t get Ben Nelson and Jim Webb on this, so will they be there at the end to vote for $500 billion in Medicare cuts?” Hmm. We don’t know. And before we get there, as Politico notes, ”the public option, abortion and financing the plan remained serious obstacles to negotiating a final bill.”
For now, the greatest deliberative body in the world continues to deliberate. And the ad makers will be making notes.